2023-10-14 16:11:14
A man of many lives, Léonard Gianadda has left his mark on Martigny, a city that shines thanks to his foundation. The 88-year-old patron spoke on the Helvetica show on Saturday and discussed his succession. Even if everything is not going to stop, he doubts that millions of visitors will continue to converge on the city on the bend of the Rhône.
Léonard Gianadda is inseparable from the city of Martigny and its foundation dedicated to culture. Created in 1977, in memory of his brother Pierre, it has attracted millions of visitors since its inauguration in 1978.
Aged 88, Léonard Gianadda has just released his biography entitled “A Whole Life”. But according to him, it’s more “lives, lives that are so different.” The man who was an engineer, photographer, gallery owner and then patron recalls that he was “the first correspondent for French-speaking Swiss Television for Valais in 1957”.
“When we say ‘everyone has their own job and the cows will be well looked following’, I can tell you that that’s not the case,” he laughs.
I often say that I wasted twenty years earning money… but it was useful for me later.
Leonard Gianadda
Having become a real estate developer, he says he “built around 1,500 apartments in the region”. “I often say that I wasted around twenty years earning money… but it served me well for the future.”
In his role as patron, Léonard Gianadda manages to attract major exhibitions to Martigny. Explaining that it is important to see people, he says he met the president of the Orsay and Orangerie museums Christophe Leribault a few months ago in Paris. He offers her a meal and they see each other once more some time later. The Valaisan then says to him: “If you have an idea for an exhibition, it might interest me.” Shortly following, he received a proposal for a Cézanne – Renoir exhibition. “It will be next summer,” he announces.
“For the Turner exhibition, which was a huge success, it was the Tate Gallery in London that contacted me,” relishes the Valaisan.
A catastrophic first
The adventure, however, got off to a bad start, with a first exhibition mounted by an art historian in 1978, of which “half the works were fakes and the other half were crusts”. This debacle is the subject of an uncompromising article in the newspaper 24 Heures. After hesitating to “rough up” the art critic, he agreed to meet him and they ended up collaborating on several exhibitions, including Klee, Picasso and Giacometti.
Since then, Martigny has shined thanks to its foundation. And it’s “the only Swiss city without a red light, they are all replaced by works of art”, smiles Léonard Gianadda, who financed the installation of sculptures on all the roundregardings. A sign of the importance of the character, the patron recalls that only one investigation has been carried out, while a nineteenth roundregarding will be equipped with an installation. “It’s a bit like Texas”, but “do you know of other cases with roundregardings like that?”, laughs the Valaisan.
How can you impose things like that, deny your nationality, your religion?
Leonard Gianadda
This grandson of an Italian immigrant insists on his attachment to the town of Salvan, where his grandfather acquired the bourgeoisie, “because you had to have Swiss nationality to be able to obtain subsidized work”. But this act also forced his ancestor to give up his Italian passport. Returning to another heartbreak, he recounts how his wife Annette, of Protestant faith, had to “deny her religion” by settling in Valais. “How can we impose things like that, deny one’s nationality, one’s religion?” says Leonard Gianadda indignantly. “Well, that has changed since then, fortunately,” greets the Valaisan, now an honorary citizen of the commune of Salvan.
“The millions of visitors are over”
Asked regarding his succession, he begins by recalling that the archaeological museum, the musical season, the automobile museum and the sculpture park will remain. As for “the animation, the exhibitions, it’s a little more complicated”. Noting the “unique” nature of what he accomplished in Martigny, he thinks that the Gianadda Foundation and “the millions of visitors are over”, even if everything is perhaps not going to stop.
Comments collected by Philippe Revaz
Adaptation web: Caryl Bussy
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