RENÉ COLLAMARINI (1904-1983) - Lot 55

RENÉ COLLAMARINI (1904-1983) Free balloon ascent by Pierre Labric and Vernanchet on July 13, 1924, Montmartre. Bronze bas-relief with brown patina, signed on the side. Captioned "Pierre Labric et Vernanchet s'envolèrent en ballon libre le 13 juillet 1924, ici était le maquis". 40 x 33 x 4 cm. In 1921, the association de la Commune Libre de Montmartre (Montmartre Free Commune), a parody of a commune imagined by Montmartre artists in the inter-war years, was declared, to maintain a village and festive spirit and a certain folklore in the district, as it existed before the war: it has an honorary village warden, archaic firefighters and a military guard made up of grenadiers. Representative authorities also include a fire captain and a justice of the peace. La Vache enragée, "the only daily newspaper published only on Wednesdays", is the official newspaper. An election was held, and several fanciful lists were drawn up, including a Cubist list comprising Pablo Picasso, Max Jacob and Archipenko, Ossip Zadkine and Jean Cocteau, a Dadaist list including Francis Picabia, Paul Dermée, André Breton and Tristan Tzara, a Sauvagiste list with Henri Chassin, an abstentionist list with no candidates, and an anti-Grattecialist list including Jules Depaquit, Francisque Poulbot and Julien Pavil, Roger Tozigny, Fredé du Lapin Agile and Suzanne Valadon. The latter list won. Jules Depaquit becomes the first mayor of the commune libre du Vieux Montmartre. Pierre Labric was his first deputy. Pierre Labric (1891-1972), a journalist with the newspaper Le Petit Parisien, was also a cyclist and balloonist. The first journalist to parachute from Afred Donval's plane in 1922, he cycled down the 220 steps of Montmartre's funicular railway in 1922, then down one of the Eiffel Tower's staircases in 1923. In 1924, following a dispute, Lemoine, nicknamed Père La Bille and owner of the restaurant À la Mère Catherine, founded a second free commune, the Commune Libre du Vieux Montmartre, with Pierre Labric. Pierre Labric was its first deputy. He was elected mayor in 1929 and remained mayor until 1972. In 1924, with the Paris Olympics in full swing, the Commune Libre du Vieux Montmartre organized its own burlesque Olympics. Notably, on July 13, 1924, a balloon rally, supported by the Journal Le Petit Parisien, in which Pierre Labric and aeronaut Louis Vernanchet, founder of the École Nationale d'Aérostation, took part. The July 14, 1924 issue of Le Figaro reports the event: "Yesterday's demonstration on "La Butte", organized by our colleague Le Petit Parisien, was an original event. Aeronaut Vernanchet ascended in a huge balloon and, accompanied by Mr. Pierre Labric, took to the air to the applause of the curious. It was on the territory of the free commune of Montmartre, on the Place Constantin-Pecqueur, that the departure of the passengers took place, at the stroke of three o'clock. The balloon, which had been undergoing the ordeal of inflation in the Avenue Junot grounds since morning, rose without difficulty, while a swarm of cyclists, equipped with race numbers, set off in pursuit. The wind was blowing northwards, carrying the spherical bike along and giving the pedalers direction. And then, as a bit of fun goes a long way, the many spectators who had come to watch the start were held back on the Butte by the many distractions organized by the Commune Libre. The reception of the Republic of Saint-Louis was not lacking in grandeur, and the Olympic tournament of a checkers and bilboquet was well attended. A postcard balloon release rounded off this aeronautical celebration. In 1924, Pierre Labric also organized the first Course de Côte au Ralenti de Montmartre, in collaboration with the Teufs-Teufs club and the GMA, les Grand-Mères Automobiles. The principle was simple: climb the 660 meters separating 42 rue Lepic from Place du Tertre, in slow motion and without stalling! Pierre Labric co-invented the Paris-Strasbourg walk with Émile Antoine in 1926. He was behind the "Salon de Toile" in Place du Tertre and, in 1933, the planting of vines on the Butte Montmartre, with the support of Francisque Poulbot and the République de Montmartre. In 1934, the first "modern" grape harvest took place, in the presence of the President of the French Republic, Albert Lebrun, and under the patronage of Fernandel and Mistinguett. He was a lieutenant in the French Air Force during the Second World War. Activities of the Commune libre were interrupted from 1939 to 1945. In the 1980s, the two free communes reconciled to work and participate together in the Fêtes et Vendanges with all the other associations. The Commune Libre du Vieux Montmartre gradually ceased all activity. An assem