Granville Terre et Mer, muse of the arts | Destination Granville Land and Sea

Christian Dior

the 1st creator in the Destination

Christian Dior was born on 21 January 1905 in Granville, Normandy, into a family that had made its fortune in fertiliser manufacture. His parents imagined a career as a diplomat for him, so he gave up his dream of becoming an architect and began higher education at the Institut d’études politiques in Paris. In 1928, he opened an art gallery with Jacques Bonjean. In 1931, Christian Dior lost his mother and his father went bankrupt. He joined Pierre Colle’s gallery in 1932. The following years were difficult, marked by illness and financial difficulties.

Encouraged by his friends, Christian Dior, gifted in drawing, learnt fashion illustration and sold his sketches to milliners, couturiers and newspapers including Le Figaro. He became a designer with Robert Piguet in 1938, then with Lucien Lelong in 1941. In 1946, he joined forces with industrialist Marcel Boussac to create the Christian Dior fashion house.

On 12 February 1947, the first collection was a dazzling success and a revolution .The silhouette, with its flared skirts and cinched waist, shook up the codes of fashion and femininity. The international press made Dior a household name in just a few days. The couturier immediately developed his house by launching perfumes and accessories, conquering the international market, starting with the United States in 1948.

When Christian Dior died in 1957, he was the most famous couturier of his time.

“The uninitiated see the profession of couturier as a mixture of folly, caprice, dreams, wasted money, lightness… In reality, behind this façade of perfumes, tulle, models, trinkets, behind all that is called falbalas, there is a commercial business…. In reality, behind this facade of perfumes, tulle, mannequins, trinkets, behind all this so-called falbalas, there is a commercial business.”

Interview with Christian Dior by Elie Rabourdin and Alice Chavane, Je suis couturier, 1951

From the Dior house to the Christian Dior Museum

Built at the end of the 19th century, Villa Les Rhumbs was acquired by Christian Dior’s parents in 1906, a few months after the birth of their son the previous year. Maurice Dior, his father, ran the family’s prosperous fertiliser manufacturing business in Granville. His mother, Madeleine, oversaw the transformation of the house and set about landscaping the garden where Christian Dior spent a sheltered and happy childhood. As a teenager, he imagined himself as an architect and was already demonstrating his creativity alongside his mother by designing the fish pond, the pergola and the modernist-inspired garden furniture. In 1911, the Dior family moved to Paris, but returned to Granville for the summer months. The Depression of 1929 brought ruin to Maurice Dior, who was forced to sell Les Rhumbs to the town of Granville in 1938. Much later, in the 1980s, the idea emerged to turn the villa Les Rhumbs into a place of remembrance dedicated to Christian Dior, on the initiative of curator Jean-Luc Dufresne (1949 – 2010), a great-cousin of the couturier. The Présence de Christian Dior association was created in 1987.

The museum opened to the public in 1997. The museum’s scientific and cultural programme covers all areas of the family home.
family home. Each year, an exhibition on a different theme sheds new light on the life of Christian Dior and the creations of his fashion house, since it was founded in Paris on avenue Montaigne in 1946. Today, the Christian Dior Museum, classified as a Maison des Illustres and a Musée de France, is still managed by Présence de Christian Dior, a tripartite association that is unique in France, bringing together the town of Granville, LVMH, Christian Dior Couture, Christian Dior Parfums and numerous personal members. Présence de Christian Dior brings this exceptional memorial to life and raises its profile in France and around the world.

New exhibition from 6 April to 3 November 2024

Christian Dior, couturier visionnaire – Discover the museum collections

“After the success of the 2023 exhibition, Christian Dior, the genius of a designer, the 2024 exhibition continues the exploration of the links between the couturier and his home town, and shows the decisive influence of his childhood environment on his career as a designer through the museum’s collections. and shows the decisive influence of his childhood environment on his career as a designer through the museum’s collections.

Three stops, spread over the three levels of the villa, closely combine Christian Dior’s personal journey with the components of the New-Look imagined at the end of the war in 1947. The Belle Epoque in Granville in the early years of the century, the childhood garden and the ever-present sea are followed by the adventure of creating the House of Dior.This is followed by the adventure of the creation of the House of Dior on avenue Montaigne and the presentation of emblematic creations from the different lines throughout the decade 1947-1957. The tour ends with a reverie of the Orient, with models inspired by Japan, the country he dreamt of as a child in the vestibule of the villa Les Rhumbs. “

Brigitte Richart, curator

Portraits of artists from

Irene Häfliger

Irene Häfliger is a contemporary painter based since 2014 in her studio gallery at L’Atelier de la Haute Ville in the heart of Granville’s upper town.

Chabert 4

Chabert 4 studied Fine Arts in Caen and also worked in child protection as a monitor-educator. Today, he runs painting workshops with disabled people.

Mapie BelGary

Born into a family of artists, Marie-Pierre Bel graduated twice from the Ecole Boulle, first in bronze mounting, then in chasing. She uses her chisels to strike copper metal,...

©Atelier Les 4 Routes 002|Atelier Les 4 Routes

Christine Desfoux

After a career as a window dresser and decorator in Caen, Christine Desfoux recently moved to her new studio in Bricqueville-sur-Mer, on the Channel coastline that inspires her.

Sylvain Allaire

After studying at the Beaux-Arts, visual artist Sylvain Allaire spent several years touring exhibitions, before settling in Granville over 12 years ago.

©Valerie Le Merrer Artist Granville 04|Estelle Cohier

Valérie Le Merrer

Valérie Le Merrer’s powerful yet melancholy marine paintings make her gallery a must-see on Rue des Juifs.

©Clementine Halberstadt Julien Hay Photographer|Julien Hay Photographe

Clémentine Halberstadt

Originally from Caen, Clémentine Halberstadt moved to Granville 4 years ago. Nature is what attracts her, and she likes it wild and silent.

Events

talent scouts

Bath exitsfrom Thursday 4 to Sunday 7 July 2024

Theatre, circus arts, dance, music, magic, mime, marching bands and more than 45 shows await the public in the streets of Granville! The Festival des Sorties de Bain is now ranked among the top 10 French street arts festivals. Lots of sites, lots of companies, lots of performances…

Around the harbour, opposite the beach or right in the heart of the town, for 4 days, a multitude of sites in different parts of Granville become stages for professional artists. The 44 passionate companies take to the pavement to thrill audiences with 131 performances. Most of them have no hesitation in travelling across France and Europe to share their pleasure in playing with colours, words, gestures and sounds.

Welders' NightSaturday 3 and Sunday 4 August 2024

La Nuit des Soudeurs brings together almost forty artists, blacksmiths and sculptors, who draw their inspiration from the piles of scrap metal stored on the quays of the fishing port, to create extraordinary artistic creations.

Over the 1st weekend in August, the artists will take over no fewer than 7 different locations to weld in front of an ever-growing public: Quai d’Orléans (welders’ village), Square Pléville (nomadic café and blacksmiths), Rue des Juifs and Square Potel. On the programme for the two days: live sculptures, welding workshops, exhibitions,
At the end of the festival, an auction of the works created will be held on Quai d’Orléans on Sunday.

Grandes Marées Festivalfrom Saturday 20 to Sunday 28 July 2024

The Grandes Marées Festival is all about good music, smiles and good humour, all under a crazy sunset! For several days, the seaside resort of Jullouville plays host to the festival village
and the warm atmosphere of the two stages: Kraken and Sonar. With a capacity of 3,000 festival-goers, the site boasts an idyllic setting.

The Kraken stage has become the festival’s most important stage. Together with the Sonar stage, these two stages have an artistic line-up that combines headliners, emerging bands and regional acts.

The programme is open and accessible to all. The Grandes Marées Festival is still a unique musical event in the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel.

Second Gestefrom Friday 18 to Monday 21 October

Second geste is the cultural event organised by the town of Saint-Pair-sur-Mer, which has had a circus tradition for 20 years now.

The circus is part of the town’s DNA. It’s a festival that’s accessible to all audiences, from the very young to adults looking to recapture their childhood memories.

Second geste is about laughter and tears, tenderness expressed through real-life situations, melancholy and poetry in all its forms.

Other themes in the 2024 press pack

Childhood joys and creativity

©Pxl 20230930 175054254|Restaurant L'Espiègle Bréhal

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