The Merging of Paint & Paragraphs
I was in Aix-en-Provence last summer, and a visit to see Alan Roberts and the school was a must. For years I had shared stories of my time in France with my husband, and I was eager for him to learn about this period that shaped my life.
Incredibly, it had been 50 years (5-0!!) since I stepped across the Leo Marchutz School of Painting & Drawing threshold. To my overwhelming joy, I found the school thriving! In this magical atelier, buzzing with creativity, was also an aura of calm as the students focused on still life renderings.
I remember lectures about Leo Marchutz and art history. We learned about Cézanne as a forerunner in Impressionism and his colleagues Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Berthe Morisot. We had live models and Friday Critiques. On landscape days, an old, forest green Army bus picked us up on the steps of Palais de Justice. We were eager to go wherever our plein-air destination for the day was: Mont Sainte-Victoire, Beaurecueil, Luberon, Vaucluse, and beyond.
Several of the teachers lived at the Château Noir. We often had dinners there, talked about what we were working on, then rolled up the rugs, and danced through the night. What an inspiring setting, especially knowing that the founder of our school did so much of his lithography and paintings there. Knowing Leo Marchutz rented a small apartment at this mysterious location in the 1930s, in Cézanne’s old residence, inspired all of us. Now, whenever there is a Cézanne exhibit, you will find me lingering before a Château Noir painting, still incredulous that I have such a close connection to it.
But I got even more from my experiences at the school.
While attending, I was fortunate to live in an historical and elegant 18th-century country manor called Domaine de Valcros. It was set in a pastoral Provençal landscape, which meant I had to buy a mobilette to get from there to school, which, at the time, was on rue Mathéron. About six students lived in the servants’ quarters on the third story: three Marchutzers (my sister Pamela Kogen, an extraordinary artist celebrated in San Francisco, came over to attend), and the others went to Aix-Marseille University.
Olivier was one of our roommates, and we developed a lifelong friendship. Through the years, I met his parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. There was an exchange where one summer they would come to the United States, and the next summer, we would go to France. Pamela and I have a great shot of both of our parents together on a beach near Arles.
When I told Jean-Francois, one of Olivier’s brothers who eventually moved to the States, that I was going to France this summer, he wrote:
“Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings from the grounds where our families found each other. The consequences of it were so decisive: our long and lasting friendship, and for me, my 42 years of ‘Americanship.”
“Your loyalty to France has never wavered; my gratitude to your family hasn’t either. It’s a treat to think of you over there, embracing every detail of your past with each breath you take.”
Today, I am a writer. I’ve written two books as well as for national women’s magazines, television, and a weekly newspaper column. While writing my books, I applied the same disciplines I learned at the school. They were the collective philosophies of my teachers, Alan Roberts, Billy Weyman, John Gasparach, Chris Coffey, and the beloved Sam Bjorklund. Editorially, one must consider:
“What is important?”
“What is superfluous?”
“Make sacrifices.”
“Create a unity.”
“Bring them onto the same plane.”
“Learn to see.”
My second book, My Stroke in the Fast Lane: A Journey to Recovery, was written during my stroke recovery in 2017. The stroke occurred while driving on an interstate highway at 65 miles per hour. As I relearned how to walk and talk, I wanted the reader to experience what it was like to be in the body of someone who had a stroke. The principles I learned with paint and charcoal also apply to words and paragraphs.
I am forever grateful to this School of Vision philosophy. As an alumna, I have a richer connection to Aix, France, and the many friendships that continue to flourish. With profound awe and gratitude, I can affirm that The Leo Marchutz School of Painting & Drawing has enriched my life as both an artist and a writer.
