Jean-Pierre Cassigneul was the son of the head of the Givenchy brand in France, and was a middle-ranking young man. He studied in the Chapelle-Midi class at the Beaux-Arts, or more formally the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Michel Henry was a senior at the atelier. Michel Henry was the examiner for the entrance exam, and they didn't get along, which was unusual for two famous painters.
It was more than 15 years ago, so I've forgotten how we met, but I became friends with a French auction appraiser named CT. She had previously done business with Itochu in Japan, and had a favorable impression of Japan. She also seemed to like me, a slightly unusual Japanese person who spoke French fairly fluently, so we dined together and she invited me to her home. There was a painter named Ogé who painted portraits, and he was a very reckless womanizer. He had just returned from America, and she asked me to team up with her and make a fortune together. At that time, prints were still selling well, so I wasn't interested in the story of an artist I'd never heard of, and since she was good friends with Cassignol's older sister or younger sister, I decided to ask her to introduce me to Cassignol. At that time, if you could buy prints by Buffet, Brasilier, Cathelin, and Cassignol cheaply, you could make a fortune or two.
After much effort to appease her, she took me to Cassignol's house. It is one of the streets that radiate out from the Arc de Triomphe, and is only a few minutes away from the Arc de Triomphe. The nameplate on the house only says JPC. That day, Cassignol was in a hurry to get ready to move. His second or third wife's child, 4-5 years old, was still running around the apartment. Apparently, there were too many visitors in Paris and he didn't have time to play with his child, so he decided to move to Switzerland. I was a fool who took her story at face value, but others had a different opinion. They said it was because taxes are overwhelmingly lower in Switzerland and you can have secret bank accounts. In other words, Cassignol is making a lot of money. That must be true. Which is correct? Is France also like Japan, and does it have a public image?
Putting that aside, I used all my knowledge and all the adjectives I knew to praise his prints. I also called him Monsieur Cassignol repeatedly. He was so pleased that he decided to sell me some prints. He brought a small calculator and opened the cases containing the prints one by one, tapping away on the calculator. I chose about 10 prints that were cheaper than buying them in Japan and that I thought would sell. But at this price, he couldn't make a profit. At best, it was only slightly cheaper than buying them from a dealer in Japan. Some works were cheaper in Japan. This was a considerable profit. Well, it seems he paid a fair amount of alimony to his ex-wife. Since he was making a profit, she probably asked for alimony too.
According to Ms. CT, my attitude was ideal. After all, I put my heart and soul into it, and used all kinds of rhetoric. I was exhausted and in a daze after leaving Cassignol's apartment. Considering all the trouble, the price wasn't that cheap, so I was a little disappointed. Well, I thought that something good might come of it someday, so I paid her the introduction fee and treated her to dinner.
After that, the new Shinagawa Prince Hotel opened, and Seibu Group invited Cassignol to Japan. He made stained glass for the Shinagawa Prince Hotel, made prints of the designs, and even had Noritake make tableware with Cassignol's designs baked into it. An exhibition was held prior to the hotel's opening, and apparently sold about 20 million yen. It wasn't a big deal at the time. The Seibu Group bought Cassignol's prints and original drawings whenever they had the chance, and in the past, all rooms in hotels such as Karuizawa Prince Hotel were decorated with Cassignol's prints. It seems that they bought not only Cassignol, but also other masters of the late 20th century such as Buffet, Brasilier, and Cathelin. A woman from the former owner's family who had collected these works in Paris also bought Michel Henry, but Michel Henry said that he did not send them to Japan and instead displayed them in his home in Paris. During the Cassignol exhibition at Shinagawa Prince Hotel, I was invited by a person in charge of the Seibu Group and acted as an interpreter for about half a day. It was just before my wedding, so he wrote a message for me in the art book. I haven't had a chance to meet Cassignol since then. About 10 years ago, I received an invitation to a party celebrating Cassignol's 50th year as an artist, but I couldn't make time to go.