'CRAVEN Photos 1970 Musée des Sables 1,500,000 Visitors'. Show December 2023 - April 2024. John CRAVEN (1912 - France 1981) born Louis Joseph CONTE. The summer of 1969 of its inauguration, the Musée des Sables de Port-Barcarès, imagined and created by John CRAVEN, the one-man band at the same time abstract art gallery owner, Public Relations, art photographer, attracts from June to November 1,500,000 visitors who discover the sculpture of their time. In 1970 CRAVEN photographed the MUSEE DES SABLES in magnificent black and white film or in color photomontage.
THE 8 SOLEILAUNAUTES TOTEMS.
Its 8 emblematic totems still erected to this day are called the Soleillonautes. The sculptors came from all over the world to France, then Terre d'Accueil des Arts, MOON SHIN (South Korea), Zenichi YOKOHAMA (Japan), Patricia DISKA (USA), UNG NO LI (South Korea), Pierre- Guy MOREELS (Belgium), Michel ROSSIGNEUX (France), Henri COMBY (France), DIEM PHUNG THI (Vietnam). They are erected on the Place des Totems, on a 360 square meter slab. The 'Soleillaunautes', including MOON SHIN, carve all the same monumental Oboma woods that are offered to them. This is how 8 Odouma woods of 10 tonnes each arrive directly from Gabon, this rare rot-proof wood has a density greater than 1 and does not float, which allows installation between the beach and the sea. C t is a technical challenge for the sculptors, because the chainsaws do not resist it, we have to bring in lumberjacks' chainsaws from the United States in order to overcome and sculpt this extraordinary wood. The invited artists all live together for five months at the Motel de La Presqu'île, during a lovely spring and a summer at the Mas de la Grêle, and sculpt in the open air, installed under a cheerful blazing sun. In a friendly international atmosphere, the sculptors of the future each create the monumental work of their life, a 'Totem' dedicated to the sun, thanks to this magnificent gift, this Odouma wood. MOON SHIN continued his quest for Totem until 1988, for the Olympic Art Museum in Seoul, South Korea, where he ended his life.
THE EYE OF CRAVEN.
John CRAVEN photographs monumental sculptures, sculptors and visitors with his purist eye always intact. He photographs the Museum and its beaches in its entirety with, 'L'oeil de bois' by John CRAVEN, the sculptors and sculptures of MOON SHIN, Sergio de CAMARGO, Henri COMBY, COULENTIANOS, Leonardo DELFINO, Albert FERAUD, Le Dieu Soleil by Alicia MOÏ, Penetrable Blue by Gina PANE, Zone Infini by Michaël GROSSERT, JACQUOT, Six Electrical Outlets by KLASEN, The Lutin by Victor ROMAN, The Polymorphs of SIMONNET, SCRIVE, TUAN, Vera SZEKELY née Harsányi, Fumio NATOI, KNEZ, Dietrich MOHR, he also photographs his sculptor friends in groups or in portraits, like MOON SHIN, KANO, etc. Then still on the 1969 program, Michel ANASSE, Helen ASHBEE, Ivan AVOSCAN, Miguel BERROCAL, Marc BRUSSE, Agustin CARDENAS, Louis CHAVIGNIER, José Stéphan CHOLLET, CONDE, Costa COULETIANOS, Jean Vincent de CROZALS, Magda FRANK, Michel GUINO, Pierre JACOT , Gérard MANNONI, Claude MERCIER, Nissim MERKADO, François MORELLET, Camilo OTERO, Thomas OTOYA, Antoine PONCET, Eugene VAN LAMSWEERDE, Jan VAN HOLTHE, LIPSI Morice, Gérard MANNONI, Phung Thi DIEM, Robert ROUSSIL, Philippe SCRIVE, Charles SEMSER, Sergio STOREL, José SUBIRA PUIG, Pierre SZEKELY, Marino DI TEANA, If CRAVEN died in 1981, in 2010, his Sand Museum was classified as a 20th century heritage.