Albin Théodore Denys Colomb de Daunant (21 November 1922 – 22 March 2006) was a French writer, poet, photographer and filmmaker, best known for his work on the multi-award-winning 1953 short film ''
White Mane
''White Mane'' (French: ''Crin-Blanc'' and ''Crin Blanc, Cheval Sauvage'') is a 1953 short film directed by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse. It is based on a children's book with the same name by the French author René Guillot.
The forty-seve ...
''. An aristocrat and modern
dandy
A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance and personal grooming, refined language and leisurely hobbies. A dandy could be a self-made man both in person and ''persona'', who emulated the aristocratic style of l ...
, he was an iconic figure of France's rural
Camargue
The Camargue (, also , , ; ) is a coastal region in southern France located south of the city of Arles, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône river delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western is the ''P ...
region.
Biography
The son of Auguste Colomb de Daunant and L. Carenou1, Denys Colomb de Daunant was born into a
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
family in the
Gard
Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;"Denys Colomb de Daunant", Au Diable Vauvert '' The Colomb de Daunants were major landowners and ran a number of traditional ''
mas
Mas, Más or MAS may refer to:
Film and TV
* Más y Menos, fictional superhero characters, from the Teen Titans animated television series
* "Más" (''Breaking Bad''), a season three episode of ''Breaking Bad''
Music Albums
* ''Más'' (album), ...
'' and factories.
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, he had to flee France for having insulted a German officer. He attempted to rejoin the
Free French Forces
__NOTOC__
The French Liberation Army ( ; AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (; FFL) during World War II. The military force of Free France, it participated ...
in Morocco, but was captured while crossing the
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...
and
imprisoned
Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...
.
Returning to the
Camargue
The Camargue (, also , , ; ) is a coastal region in southern France located south of the city of Arles, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône river delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western is the ''P ...
in 1947, at the age of 25, he purchased the Cacharel ''mas'' in
Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (, alternatively with the definite article Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, "(the) Saint Marys of the Sea", locally Les Saintes, ; Provençal: ''Lei Santei Marias de la Mar'' or ''Li Sànti Marìo de la Mar'' ), is the c ...
, where he was to live for more than sixty years, transforming it in the process into a rustic horse-riding centre with no running water, electricity, or telephone line. Cacharel became one of the area's best-known ''
manade
A manade (Provençal dialect, prov. ''menada'', originally from Latin, lat. ''manus'' = hand) is a term used mainly in the Camargue area in France for a semi-feral group of Camargue cattle or Camargue (horse), horses led by a gardian, or herder. ...
s'' for both horses and
Camargue bull
The Camargue is a list of cattle breeds, breed of domestic cattle native to the Camargue marshlands of the river delta of the Rhône in southern France. It is used for the traditional sport of ''Course camarguaise#Course camarguaise (course l ...
s. Though this remained his base, he travelled a lot and became friends with many of the prominent cultural figures of his time, including
Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
,
Chagall
Marc Chagall (born Moishe Shagal; – 28 March 1985) was a Russian and French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with the School of Paris, École de Paris, as well as several major art movement, artistic styles and created ...
,
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...
, and
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...
. He was close to
Frédéric Mistral
Joseph Étienne Frédéric Mistral (; , 8 September 1830 – 25 March 1914) was an Occitan writer and lexicographer of the Provençal form of the language. He received the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of the fresh origina ...
, and contributed to the latter's
Occitan language
Occitan (; ), also known by its native speakers as (; ), sometimes also referred to as Provençal, is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valleys, as well as Spain's Val d'Aran in Catalonia; collectively, ...
magazine ''Aïoli''."La Petite Histoire de notre Hôtel" Hotel de Cacharel website /ref>
In 1948 he married Monique Bonis, the granddaughter of Colomb de Daunant's spiritual forebear, iconic Camargue pioneer
Folco de Baroncelli-Javon
Folco de Baroncelli-Javon (1 November 1869 – 15 December 1943), was a French writer and cattle farmer. As an influential ''gardian'' (a kind of Provençal cowboy), he is an important figure in the traditional lifestyle and culture of the Camar ...
.
He was the manager of the bullfighting ring at Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mer, and sometimes took part in bullfights himself.
With
Albert Lamorisse
Albert Lamorisse (; 13 January 1922 – 2 June 1970) was a French filmmaker, film producer, and writer of short films which he began making in the late 1940s. He also invented the strategic board game ''Risk'' in 1957.
Life
Lamorisse was born ...
and
James Agee
James Rufus Agee ( ; November 27, 1909 – May 16, 1955) was an American novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, writing for ''Time'', he was one of the most influential film critics in the United States. His autob ...
, Colomb de Daunant was one of the screenwriters of ''
White Mane
''White Mane'' (French: ''Crin-Blanc'' and ''Crin Blanc, Cheval Sauvage'') is a 1953 short film directed by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse. It is based on a children's book with the same name by the French author René Guillot.
The forty-seve ...
'', a short film released in 1952 that focused on the wild horses of the Camargue, and much of it was filmed at the ''mas'' de Cacharel. With Lamorisse he also co-authored the novel of the same name that appeared in 1953.
He spent much of his life fighting to protect the cultural heritage of the
Camargue
The Camargue (, also , , ; ) is a coastal region in southern France located south of the city of Arles, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône river delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western is the ''P ...
, campaigning for example against the encroachment of electricity pylons. He avoided using electricity himself, and was known in France for perpetuating the image first embodied by Folco de Baroncelli of the Camargue as an area of tough men and wild animals – at times, indeed, he even dressed in traditional clothing from Baroncelli's time.
He died on 22 March 2006 at the age of 85, survived by two children, Florian and Sylvie Colomb de Daunant.
Works
Bibliography
*''La nuit du Sagittaire'', 2006, ()
*''Camargue'', 1955 (with Jean Proal)
White Mane
''White Mane'' (French: ''Crin-Blanc'' and ''Crin Blanc, Cheval Sauvage'') is a 1953 short film directed by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse. It is based on a children's book with the same name by the French author René Guillot.
The forty-seve ...
'') (1953) (also screenwriter)
* ''
Aux frontières du possible
''Aux frontières du possible'' (''To the Boundaries of the Possible'') is a French television show that was broadcast from 1971 and 1974. The show was created by Henri Viard and Jacques Bergier, based on the latter's book ''Scientific Espionage ...