D’art press à Catherine M.

She became famous, almost overnight, with her Vie sexuelle de Catherine M., published in April 2001. But Catherine Millet had a life before this one, which is very close to the adventure of art press, one of the main reviews of contemporary art. She founded it with a group of friends, among them gallery owner Daniel Templon, her companion at the time, in 1972 (she was then only 24 years old) and is still at the helm forty years later! It is the whole story of the magazine that seeps through this long interview, in which we see a gallery of artists go by (Michel Journiac, César, Jean-Pierre Raynaud or designer Roger Tallon responsible for the first issue), who all reflect the commitments of art press. But we also see characters that do not fit into any category: Hubert Goldet, the first financial support who became a great collector of primitive art, or Louis Dalmas, an owner of swinger clubs, who helped the magazine live through the difficult period at the end of the ‘70s… Among the spicier anecdotes, there is the story of the role art press played in finding the “Origine du monde”, by Courbet, in 1991, and the moment when the State bought it back.

• D’art press à Catherine M., entretiens avec Catherine Millet avec Richard Leydier, Gallimard, Témoins de l’art, 2011, 240 p., 22,50 €.