In her 1978 book about Marseille, A Considerable Town, American food journalist M.F.K. Fisher spends the first 20 pages justifying why she feels so comfortable in a city that – many people will be happy to tell you – should make you feel uncomfortable. She ends this opening chapter with a quote from a letter written by the literary figure Madame de Sévigné in 1672:
“I am ecstatic about the peculiar beauty of this town. Yesterday, the weather was heavenly, and the place where I looked over the sea, the fortresses, the mountains, and the city is astonishing … I must apologize to Aix [en Provence], but Marseille is lovelier and livelier than it, in proportion to Paris itself! There are at least a hundred thousand people here; and I cannot even try to count how many of them are beauties: the whole atmosphere makes me somewhat untrustworthy.”
Today, the population of Marseille is closer to 900,000, but de Sévigné and Fisher’s sentiment still rings true. The port’s sparkling Mediterranean location set against the city’s sprawling urbanity, a dense, multicultural population, and daylight that seems stalled in a forever golden sunset all make Marseille the most dynamic destination in the south of France.
“Marseille is a city that puts me in touch with my emotions. I tried to capture its power of attraction, its breath of fresh air, and to convey the energy that reigns there,” noted outgoing Chanel creative director Virginie Viard in the show details for the brand’s latest cruise collection, which was presented in the city in May. Her final collection for the house leaned into this vibrancy and Marseille’s endless juxtapositions to create a vacation-ready wardrobe made up of Marseillaise souvenirs.
As is often the case with Chanel’s destination collections, the thematic Easter eggs were in the accessories: a shoulder bag in the shape of a bar of Provençal soap; charm jewellery hung with gilt straw hats, tiny sardine cans and bejewelled crabs. These pieces were layered onto looks in fine lace, open knits and voluminous chiffons printed with playful illustrations of fish, all atop chic flats and terrycloth platform flip-flops.
In May, the looks were presented at La Cité Radieuse, an appropriately incongruous tower by Le Corbusier that defied expectations of a postcard-perfect Riviera backdrop. What the brutalist landmark did lend was its colour palette of midcentury green and yellow. It also served as another very Marseille reminder to look beyond expectations. What appears as an austere, concrete apartment block in photos is, in fact, a structure full of warm textures, intimate proportions and a tight knit community of residents and small businesses.
Returning in October to photograph the collection, we found ourselves south of the city’s hustle and bustle in the small port of Malmousque. Its shoreline is lined with overturned boats that sit below locals commuting along narrow paths that hug the cliffs. The 19th century Pavillon de la Reine Jeanne towers over the sea like a lighthouse and houses the Alexis Pentcheff Gallery, which specializes in paintings that bring focus to the vivacity of its locale.
Capturing the Chanel collection in this new context, with the autumn Mistral winds blowing at 40 kilometres an hour, added yet another dimension to the perception of Marseille. A turquoise cardigan might as well have been colour matched to the rich hue of the rough water. A neoprene swimsuit accented with a delicate bow appeared hardy enough to protect anyone who might consider diving in. To take a cue from de Sévigné, the sun-drenched day was yet another reminder that Marseille is perpetually, unexpectedly “lovelier and livelier.”
– Andrew Sardone
All clothing and accessories at Chanel (chanel.com).
Styling by Nadia Pizzimenti. Makeup and hair by Julie Cusson for Chanel using the Limited-Edition Holiday Makeup Collection including the Enchanted Night eyeshadow and blush palette, Rouge Allure L’Extrait lip colour in Shade 947 – Nuit Pourpre and Le Vernis nail polish in Shade 193 – Storyteller. Model: Avah Adams at Mode Models. Photographed at Galerie Alexis Penthcheff.
Nestled in a harbour with a view as singular as the artwork it displays, Galerie Alexis Pentcheff has become a mainstay of Marseille’s cultural awakening since its opening in 2009. “During the pandemic, a lot of people from Paris came to live in Marseille and the city has really changed,” says Giulia Pentcheff, life and business partner of the gallery’s namesake, Alexis. “Now, the city is really fashionable.”
Meeting this momentum, the gallery has undergone its own evolution. Once situated at the centre of town, it relocated in 2023 to Pavillon de la Reine Jeanne, a grand structure in the city’s Malmousque area. The new digs, airy and arresting in architectural detail, present ample opportunity for the gallery to proffer work that illustrates the artistic past of the Provençal seaside.
“We studied art history together at the University in Aix-en-Provence,” says Giulia of how she and Alexis, both natives to the area, came to cultivate their localist eye. The gallery’s scope first focused on painters from the region – those attuned to capturing the almost indescribable light that pervades the South of France. But the gallery has expanded the breadth of artistry it highlights with a roster that runs the gamut from late expressionist Bernard Buffet to contemporary multi-disciplinary creative, Laurence Aëgerter.
“Sometimes we’ll do something very different,” Giulia says, highlighting the gallery’s acquisition of the workshop of celebrated fashion illustrator René Gruau, a cache of approximately 4,000 original works. “That work doesn’t have much of a link to what we typically do,” she says. “But we had the opportunity, we like it, and we said, ‘okay, it’s different but it’s so interesting that we can’t resist.’”
Over the coming months, the gallery will highlight the diversity of its collection by masters including Henri Martin and Pierre Bonnard. And it will participate in fairs from FAB Paris, which runs from Nov. 22 to 27, to BRAFA Brussels in January, moves that nod to the gallery’s ambition to not only pique the interest of visitors to Marseille, but also bring its art to the world.
– Odessa Paloma Parker
For more, visit galeriepentcheff.fr
