French Television Channel "France 3", February 2004
Television documentary on John Pendray to be broadcasted on France 3 on the 28th of February 2004 at 4pm and, later on, on cable television worldwide.
Var Matin, septembre 1996
John Pendray: peintre de marines
Cet Anglais spécialisé dans l'univers de la mer expose ses oeuvres à la Tour Carrée à Sainte-Maxime, après les avoir présentées à Paris et à Londres.
John Pendray, peintre de marines, présentera ses oeuvres au Musée de la Tour Carrée, demain samedi lors d'une journée portes ouvertes. (photo Jean-Pierre Charrier)
Cette année, la commune de Sainte-Maxime a voulu créer un lien avec la "Nioulargue" de Saint-Tropez. Alors, le musée de la Tour Carrée accueille jusqu'au 6 octobre John Pendray, qui poursuit la tradition des peintures marines. Cet artiste anglais, installé aujourd'hui à Marseille, en profite pour peindre La Nioulargue.
Depuis quatre ans, John Pendray consacre plus particulièrement son temps à la peinture marine. Né à Londres en 1937, il est installé à Marseille depuis 25 ans. "J'ai conçu, dit-il, un projet d'architecture navale "la Bette marseillaise" dont la conception a été retenue par le journal "Le Chasse Marée" et dont le prototype financé par la SAFIM (foire internationale de Marseille) a été construit grandeur nature en avril 1991 en 9 jours, par une équipe de charpentiers devant la mairie de Marseille." John Pendray a plusieurs cordes à son arc. "Aujourd'hui, je me voue totalement aux peintures marines. Mais j'ai aussi décoré l'intérieur de la centrale nucléaire de Tricastin, sculpté des fresques pour E.D.F. et G.D.F."
John s'est également occupé de signalétique pour le palais des festivals de Cannes ou pour Sophia-Antipolis. Il a aussi enseigné l'art en Angleterre et a travaillé sur des dessins d'architecture et de publicité. Cette précision a dû lui servir pour ses peintures. Sa technique hyper-réaliste lui a valu d'entrer, en moins de trois ans, dans le cénacle des peintres de marines. "Je travaille à partir de photographies et de documents et je recrée ensuite une situation inventée. Pour un grand tableau, il me faut un mois de travail et la prise d'une bonne trentaine de clichés." Son image de Cowes (1910) et du Britannia Shamrock III donne une idée de son travail.
Son exposition au musée de la Tour Carrée se poursuit jusqu'au 6 octobre. Demain samedi, le peintre expliquera ses oeuvres, lors d'une journée portes-ouvertes sur le Musée Maximois.
R.Y.
Figaro Méditerrannée, Décembre 1995
JOHN PENDRAY,
SUJET DE SA MAJESTE LA MER
Par Hervé Tusseau
Les "marines" de John Pendray allient un dessin sans faille à une étonnante subtilité picturale.
"J'aime beaucoup les anglais, cette tribu mystique mue par d'étranges et persistantes coutumes" disait John Steinbeck à John Pendray qui poursuit la tradition des peintures marines: "La luminosité azur pâle qu'ils irradient montre bien que la guède (pastel des teinturiers) est en eux, à défaut d'être sur eux."
John arrive à Marseille en 1971, exerce le métier d'architecte d'intérieur puis de designer graphiste et se lance dans la construction d'un petit voilier traditionnel. "Comment imaginer la Méditerrannée sans voile latine? Chaque bateau est le produit de toute une connaissance. Il y a deux mille ans d'expérience, avant qu'un idiot ait eu l'idée de monter un moteur dedans." L'inspiration de John, bien à l'écart du milieu artisitique est toute teintée de dérision à l'égard du personnage du peintre et doit beaucoup aux vertus du pragmatisme anglais. On est loin du romantisme toujours prêt à toutes les fuites au nom de l'idéal: ce peuple, jamais las de célébrer la délicatesse d'un ciel maritime, ni de rendre hommage à la distinction des hommes aux allures de conquérants des mers, partage l'émotion du roi Lear: "Du moment que la pluie est venue me mouiller, où le vent m'a fait claquer des dents, où le tonnerre a refusé de se taire sur mon ordre, alors j'ai reconnu, alors j'ai senti leur sincérité." La peinture marine de John est une reconnaissance de cette vérité pleine de simplicité exigeant la modestie d'un travail patient.
Un indéfinissable magnétisme
Chaque oeuvre importante demande un à deux mois de travail, dont la prise d'une trentaine de clichés, pour le repérage révélant le caractère, sinon la vertu, de chaque bateau "soumis à la chose qui se trouve là" : un vent arrière, un ciel menaçant, des crêtes... Soutenue par un dessin sans défaillances, la toile de John recrée les reflets de l'aube ou du couchant, la lumière diffuse ou ardente du ciel dans une subtilité picturale étonnante. A l'huile, à l'aquarelle comme à la gouache. Le décor est en parfaite fusion avec l'atmosphère qu'il exprime. "Si une chose est vraie, elle est jolie" conclut John. Au-delà de leur scrupuleuse exactitude, les tableaux de John ont un indéfinissable magnétisme, un peu comme lorsque l'oeil voit en même temps ce que l'esprit se représente. En fallait-il plus pour devenir un peintre officiel de la marine de guerre française? " Oui, car il m'était difficile de renoncer à ma nationalité.• John fait des vernissages à la maison. On y trouve de très jolies pièces dans une fourchette de prix allant de 7 000 à 30 000 francs.
• A la suite d'une nouvelle loi britannique autorisant la double nationalité à ses citoyens, John Pendray est devenu Peintre Officiel de la Marine Française.
Franco-British Chamber of Commerce Chronicle , 1984
A BRITISH DESIGNER THRIVES IN MARSEILLE
"Every time I walk into a building, I want to change the interior", British designer John Pendray admits, as if apologizing for a bad habit. Fortunately for the inhabitants of Marseille and the south of France, a number of decision makers have taken advantage of Pendray's obsession and put it to good use and several buildings in the area (two of Marseille's underground stations) already look much the better for it.
Pendray, 47, has not always been an interior designer: when he qualified from St Martin's School of Art in London, where he specialized in painting, he went on to study at the Hornsey Teacher's Training College, part of London University, intent on becoming an art teacher. His aim was to combine his two favorite activities and to teach both art and sailing. Abbotsfield Secondary School in north west London needed someone to do just that. "Abbotsfield had a marvelous art department", says Pendray, "and the experience was a very rich one, but art teachers tend to burn themselves out and I began to get restless". As an antidote, he bought himself a passage on a liner to the Caribbean to find work as a crew on the charter yachts, but the arrival of a new French assistant at Abbotsfield was to put a stop to the trip. John and Michèle Ceschi were married in London, but decided to move to Michèle's hometown, Marseille. Michèle had a teaching job to go to, but John, who didn't speak a word of French at the time, had no idea what type of work he would find in the south of France.
"When I arrived here fifteen years ago,", he says, "I started work as a draughtsman earning minimum wage and waited quite a while before I was given any conceptual work. But just as I was beginning to get restless again, the project for the first underground line was launched."
On the strength of his own personal design work, Pendray was asked to create the interior graphics for two of the underground stations, Saint Charles, under the main line railway station and Noailles. As passengers enter the station at St Charles, they pass alongside a life-size TGV on one quay and a Pacific steam locomotive on the other, both painted on enameled steel.. At Noailles, the station is entirely decorated with life-sized reproductions of the ancient trams of Marseille and at the Rond Point du Prado his footballer graphics decorate the station.
Pendray's contributions to the Marseille underground stations- the decoration of Saint-Charles alone took months to complete- were the launching pad for his career as a designer in the Marseille area. They also enabled him to branch out on his own: "I've always been rather a lone wolf", he admits, "I can't bear fixed working hours or bosses hovering over me". Although he works constantly in parallel with various teams of architects and was indeed head of studio in an architectural agency in Marseille before becoming independent, Pendray now essentially works from home.
Home is a splendid two floor flat and garden, Rue Dragon in the centre of Marseille, which he has completely redesigned and renovated with his wife.
A lot of Pendray's work has to be done on site, however purely because of the size of his designs. The abstract mural decorations which cover the walls of the main generating hall of Electricité de France's nuclear power station at Tricastin spreads over 8.000 square metres. Their presence is not solely aesthetic: four very distinct designs in contrasting colours with accompanying graphics help to distinguish four separate but identical turbine sections.
EDF is one of Pendray's largest clients: he is also responsible for the conception and execution of a 28 square metre mural design for the entrance of the administration block of the nuclear power station, the interior design of the control rooms and the chromatic studies for the complex.
The bulk of his work, however, comes from the municipalities or local authorities in the region, much of which is in the form of mural designs such as that which has transformed the conference room of the Réseau de Transports de Marseille or the giant decorations which he is currently working on for the town's second underground line, the ideas for which cover the walls of his studio at the moment.
"The problems with this type of project', says Pendray, "is that these designs will be in place for several decades. That cuts out a lot of ideas which would date too quickly. I also have to defend my ideas against 'dilution' by committees and technicians. Unless one is careful, a project can be ruined by an accumulation of minor changes."
From Cannes to Sophia Antipolis, John Pendray has also become known for his sign posting work. He created the signing for the new Palais des Festivals in Cannes, before the building was completely reorganized which a change of local government. In Martigues, north of Marseille, he designed the graphics and signs for the town hall, the the new civic center and museum and recently put the finishing touches to the signposting of the famous scientific complex at Sophia Antipolis, north west of Nice. The signs are simple and tasteful: different elements of wildlife are depicted in white on various shades of green, matched to blend in harmony with the surrounding countryside. "It is important that signing is adapted by colour and form to its architectural and environmental situation", says Pendray. "Many sites are ruined by completely unadapted, prefabricated, standardize graphics". On both of these projects, Pendray worked in collaboration with a local sign company, Midi 13, competing against nationally known names such as J.C. Decaux.
Although what Pendray most about his profession as an independent artist is the freedom it gave him to sail his 5.5 International yacht (designed by the French naval architect, André Mauric which he has entirely restored), on a weekday or to work all day Sunday in accordance with his mood or the weather, another aspect which he finds particularly stimulating is the variety of projects he handles. "I had trouble finding the appropriate label for my work when I had to register with the local authorities", he says, " I could be categorized as a graphic artist, an interior designer, an industrial designer or even a sculptor."
In the case of a 250-place self service restaurant in Toulon, Pendray not only conceived the grphics but the entire interior design, creating spiral staircases in red lacquered steel and supervising the masons personally until each brick was laid according to his plans.
"I'm a hopeless perfectionnist", he admits, " and no doubt impossible to work with, but in the case of the Toulon restaurant, it paid off. The success of the project led a relation of the restaurant owner to ask me to redesign the interior of a new 150-bedroom convalescent home nearby at Les Sablettes." Work comes in steadily, but as in this case, often through hearsay, Pendray never advertises. His success in the south of France has led him to work further afield: in Lomé, Togo, he helped redesign the interior of the Banque Internationale de l'Afrique Occidentale and handled studies for the reorganization of the Edea township in Cameroon. Recently, Sud Atelier, the French architectural group which won the competition for the design of two of the Singapore underground stations, contacted him to work with them on the interior design and the graphics for the complete network. Apart from his recognized talents as a designer, Pendray was chosen for the project for another reason: all the conceptual work on the Singapore underground is in English. "Otherwise, though, being British doesn't really make any difference to my work as a designer", he says, "but I don't think I could have had the same career in England. As far as graphics are concerned, the British are obsessed with diplomas: you need a specific diploma for everything you undertake. The French are different: as long as you can prove your worth, they will let you get on with the job!"
Pendray kept in touch with the British community in Marseille through his activities as counselor with the Franco-British Chamber of Commerce Regional Council and by organizing exchanges between British and French companies in his own field.
By Gill O"Meara.