Jean COCTEAU and the Saint-Pierre chapel in Villefranche-sur-Mer.

Jean Cocteau (1889.1963)

Autograph letter signed to a friend.

Santo Sospir letterhead

St Jean Cap Ferrat. Thursday November 16, 1956.

“I never mentioned that Brusset's clumsiness made me do double duty, forcing me to revive the flatness of his layers. »

Virulent letter against the painter Jean-Paul Brusset and his wife Margaret.

Cocteau is furious with the attitude of the Brusset couple following their artistic collaboration on the frescoes of the Saint-Pierre chapel in Villefranche-sur-Mer

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“My very dear friend, You know the admiration I have for the nobility of your attitude. Can I beg you to tell your friend not to get involved in the Brusset affair, the details of which she doesn't know (which they are hiding from her). The Brussets committed in Villefranche the most serious act in French jurisdiction and, moreover, they will be prevented from involving the Villefranche residents in it. I agreed to break up with them (on the scheduled dates) […]

Out of kindness for these unfortunate people, I never mentioned that Brusset's clumsiness did double duty for me, forcing me to revive the flatness of his tracings. You know with what heart I wrote your strip. It was not the same with Brusset. It was out of pure complacency that I agreed to write 5 pages (handwritten) of preface for his album and a page of preface for his catalog. He pays me with a letter of insults like few people have received.

But, I repeat, these are not blackmail tactics. This is help for people facing the worst. It’s my friendship that speaks to you. Not that I blame them. I pity them with all my heart , but I am surprised at their arrogance when they know what would await them if I were a soul like theirs. Jean Cocteau. PS. I am taking the liberty of writing to you because it is so, so serious (and unrelated to the chapel.)

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On October 20, 1956, Cocteau wrote this to Margaret Brusset: “ Your husband forgot that I told each person my gratitude for their kindness and their courage, that without him I could do nothing. He forgot my preface, more important, I believe, than an article.  Concerning the odious sentence about “the chapel that makes itself”, it proves, alas, that Brusset has understood nothing (and understands nothing about a very beautiful and very moving sentence), I said that his help and the ceramist he discovered to be were so many miracles dictated by the chapel which gives us its orders. If he sees everything through the small end of the telescope, it would be better for him to leave and leave me alone. This will not be my first disappointment of the heart (alas)…”