Description

Built in Davis (in the Jausiers municipality), this large building became, in 1899, the property-studio of painters Jean Caire, original from Jausiers, and Marie Tonoir, daughter of a Lyon silk merchant.

Dubbed the Oasis, in memory of their stays in North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia), the residence features the Crescent symbol still visible on the portal. It housed the painter-travelers' studio "where among the old woodwork, precious fabrics, thousands of odd or amusing trinkets, the studies about Algeria were like sun spots."

Jean Caire (1855-1935), landscape artist, was also (and especially) a tireless promoter of tourism in Ubaye, the founder of the Syndicat d'Initiative of Barcelonnette (1910), and the delegate to the conservation of the Valley's sites and monuments he kept promoting.
Marie Caire, born Tonoir (1860-1934), focused on the human figure (nudes, portraits, genre scenes); she was a member of the Union of Women Painters, Sculptors and Engravers (3rd medal at the 1892 Salon) and member of the Society of French Orientalist painters.

The Vallée museum in Barcelonnette keeps and shows the most important collection of the artist couple Jean Caire and Marie Caire-Tonoir embellished by numerous pieces from the Lyon, Paris and Marseille museums.

Video

ICONOGRAPHY
Archives: the couple Jean and Marie Caire / portraits / © Photo Library Museum Vallée. Showing of Jean and Marie Caire's work / The collection of the Vallée Museum, La Sapinière / © Photo Library Vallée Museum.