- Title: 'Endangered artists!': Montmartre painters take Paris city hall to court
- Date: 5th July 2021
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JULY 3, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ARTIST AND REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PLACE DU TERTRE'S ARTISTS, JOSE LUIS LEIVA CHACON, TALKING WITH FELLOW ARTISTS (SOUNDBITE) (French) ARTIST AND REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PLACE DU TERTRE'S ARTISTS, JOSE LUIS LEIVA CHACON, SAYING: "Considering this obvious injustice, we applied for a summary judgement at the administrative court against Paris City Hall. We are awaiting the court's resolution, which should be known next week. And well, we hope we'll win the case because the way they are treating the artists really is unacceptable. And especially the call for competition with an opaque application system and the fact that those who will judge the applications will be the city's elected representatives, not professionals. It will be the deputy mayor in charge of roads, the deputy mayor in charge of trade… People who can have good or bad taste but who are not professionals. VARIOUS OF LEIVA CHACON PAINTING (SOUNDBITE) (French) ARTIST AND REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PLACE DU TERTRE'S ARTISTS, JOSE LUIS LEIVA CHACON, SAYING: "It might indeed be transmitted from a generation to another. There was my dad, there is me, and there is also my son, who is a lot younger. Six years ago, he succeeded in getting a position (on the Place du Tertre) by passing a test at the School of Arts of Ivry (near Paris)."
- Embargoed: 19th July 2021 08:54
- Keywords: Eiffel Tower France Montmartre Paris Sacre Coeur basilica art city hall painters painting tribunal
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Art,Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe
- Reuters ID: LVA003EKKBUPZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Parisian painters of the iconic Place du Tertre in Montmartre are displaying 'Endangered artist' signs in protest against a Paris city hall bill that would change the conditions for painters to get a pitch on the square.
The 250 artists working on the most famous open-air art gallery will need to fill a form, write a cover letter and gather examples of their work in an online portfolio.
The replacement of painting tests by an online application process worries artists, who fear they may be replaced by impostors who could send pictures of the works of others.
Most are angry at the prospect of losing their pitch, like Gerard Toulouzou, who started working on the Place du Tertre 51 years ago, when he was 15. He told Reuters this bill "stressed (him) out".
"We, the veteran artists, we made the Place du Tertre. I don't see why new people would come here and take our place. It is unacceptable," he said.
The new regulation is the implementation of a European decree 2017 on commercial competition in the public domain that had not yet been implemented.
Jose Luis Leiva Chacon, the representative of the Place du Tertre artists and a painter himself, said they applied for a summary judgment against Paris city call.
"And well, we hope we'll win the case because the way they are treating the artists really is unacceptable," he said.
A few artists have refused to display protest signs on their pitch. Pavlos Fassolis is one of them. For him, the bill is a good way to make sure the artists who remain of the square are legitimate.
"The painters who have things to hide, they are scared. The others aren't scared," he told Reuters.
The decision of the Paris administrative court judging on the artists' situation is expected to be known on July 5 or July 6.
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