Page 49 - DIVA 1 2025_web

culture

Journalist, photographer, engineer, property Swiss history painting, best known as the
developer, patron of the arts, entrepreneur painter of Guillaume/Willhelm Tell), Félix
– he was all these. Recipient of the Order Valloton, Eduard Vallet, Jean Lecoultre,
of Merit of the Italian Republic, and the Louis Soutter, Alberto Giacometti, Hans
National Order of the Legion of Honour; Erni.
he was also made an Officier de l’Ordre des
Arts et des Lettres and an associate member Hans Erni, known in Geneva for his long
of the Institut de France and the Académie fresco at the entrance to the Palais des
des Beaux-Arts. Nations, also left his mark on the town
of Martigny through his joint projects
Wherever he worked and whatever he did, with Léonard Gianadda: he created the
he tried to share and to bring beauty to bronze statue of the Minotaur (in the
people he knew as well as to those he did city centre), crafted magnificent stained-
not know. Indeed, bringing beauty for the glass windows for the Protestant chapel,
pleasure of others was his driving force. decorated several buildings with mosaic
Art was his passion, or to be more precise, frescoes, and erected the fountain in the
one of his greatest passions, as he had Foundation’s garden.
many, but it was art that made him known Not only Swiss painters and sculptors
worldwide. were featured by Léonard Gianadda.
The exhibition hall in the small
Leonard Gianadda’s grandfather came to mountain town mounted exhibitions
Switzerland from the Italian side of the of such artists as Soulages,Toulouse-
Alps through the Simplon Pass, on foot, at Lautrec, Cézanne, Monet, Munch, Pablo
the age of 13, escaping poverty. He settled Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, Sam Szafran,
in Martigny, where much later, in 1935, Van Gogh, Picasso, Kandinsky, Ernest
Léonard was born. He loved his native town Biéler, Rodin, Balthus, Albert Chavaz,
and lived there all his life, contributing to Jean Fautrier, Berthe Morisot, Kees Van
the town and the life of its people. Dongen, Marius Borgeaud, Van Gogh,
Paul Gauguin, Joan Miró, Raoul Dufy,
The Pierre Gianadda Foundation, dedicated Edouard Manet, Suzanne Valadon, Edgar
to the arts and created for cultural purposes, Degas, Modigliani, Fernando Botero,
was not the only foundation created by Henry Moore, Julius Bissier, Paul Delvaux
Léonard Gianadda. Throughout his life, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gustav Klimt, Egon
Léonard Gianadda devoted considerable Schiele, Paul Klee and many others.
resources to the creation and perpetuation
of works and initiatives close to his heart. As a young man, from 1953-1961,
In 2009, together with his wife Annette, he Gianadda worked as a photojournalist
created the Annette and Léonard Gianadda and travelled greatly, visiting many
Foundation, a charity dedicated to helping countries. In 1957 during the World
the people of Martigny, particularly those Youth Festival, he was in the USSR, where
in need. And in 2019, Léonard Gianadda he took over 1,000 photos to show and
created a new foundation whose purpose explain life at that time in that country.
is to continue the philanthropic activities Some of the photos were published in
he had undertaken throughout his life. the book Moscow 1957 (2010), and his
own photo taken at Red Square (one of
This generous person knew how to share, the most iconic photos!) was chosen by
and he did so abundantly for almost half him for the cover. This book can still be
a century. For arts and beauty, he shared purchased at the Foundation. Several
through the exhibitions, most of which decades later, in 2010, these photos were
were organized by him personally. He the subject of an exhibition in Moscow,
introduced us to vast facets of the art world to which he was invited, visiting the city
and also promoted Swiss painters less for the first time since 1957. In interviews,
known to the international public: Albert Léonard Gianadda said that these two
Anker, Ferdinand Hodler (a great name in visits marked him profoundly.

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