Opera mourns the miserable death of a great costumier, 76

Opéra de Marseille has led the tributes to Christian Gasc, who has been found dead at home in wretched circumstances.

The Marseille Opera has sadly learned about the passing of the costume designer CHRISTIAN GASC. Elegance and passion characterized him as much as his immense talent and kindness. Many times winner of Moliere and Cesar awards, he put his talent in the service of cinema, theatre and opera. The Costume Workshop and the public of the Marseille Opera will remember the creation of the costumes of “Marius et Fanny” with Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu, as well as the production of “Andre Chénier” staged by Claire Servais. The entire staff express their sincere condolences to his family and loved ones.

Angela Gheorghiu adds: ‘I am deeply saddened by the passing of extraordinary, unsurpassed costume designer, my dearest friend Christian Gasc, with whom I had a very close friendship and correspondence until his end. A generous man of culture and of great finesse.
It was a privilege to work together and to be dressed in his beautiful costumes in the movies of Tosca and Roméo et Juliette, as well as for the world premiere of Marius et Fanny. Cher Christian, tu resteras toujours dans mon coeur, merci pour tout 💔🙏 Angela.’

The playwright Jean-Marie Besset reports that Christian died in poverty and under social care:
Apparemment Christian était sous tutelle et on lui accordait 200 euros par mois. Le chargé de tutelle l’a retrouvé hier onze janvier, dans sa petite chambre de bonne de la rue Servandoni, où il était mort (non pas dix jours plus tôt, comme ce fut dit, mais) la veille.
Beaucoup d’entre nous s’étaient éloignés de lui.
Nous ignorions qu’il était dans une telle détresse. Personne ne nous avait prévenus. Mais honte à nous de ne pas avoir cherché non plus à savoir.
Dans notre France de 2022, un artiste si couronné (Césars, Molière…) peut donc mourir dans la solitude, la misère et l’indifférence.
Pauvre, pauvre Christian. Pardonne nous.
PS: A l’initiative d’un proche, Valérian Guillaume, s’organisent une cérémonie à Saint Sulpice et une collecte pour les obsèques.
Ses amis sont invités à écrire à jdv23@sfr.fr (Jérôme Duval, le curateur, c’est à dire le chargé de tutelle) dans l’attente de la suite des informations.

Apparently Christian was under social care on 200 euros a month. The person in charge of his case found him … in his little room on rue Servandoni… Many of us had lost contact with him. We didn’t know he was in such distress. No one warned us. But shame on us that we didn’t seek to know either. In our France of 2022 that such an honoured artist (Cesars, Moliere… ) can die in loneliness, misery and indifference. Poor, poor Christian. Forgive us.

This is his official Covent Garden CV:

Gasc grew up in Tarn-et-Garonne and developed a passion for cinema at an early age. He moved to Paris aged 15 and began work as a costume designer for cinema with the help of director Liliane Kermadec, for whom he designed costumes for Aloïse (1975). He subsequently worked with such film directors as Claire Denis, Marguerite Duras, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacquot, Patrice Leconte, André Téchiné and François Truffaut. For Jacquot his costume designs for films include Sade (2000), Au Fond des bois (2010) and Les Adieux à la reine (2012). He has also worked with Jacquot for television.

Gasc’s many opera credits include La traviata (Paris Opéra, with Jacquot), Così fan tutte (Grand Théâtre de Genève), Guillaume Tell (Zürich Opera), La clemenza di Tito and Manon Lescaut (La Scala, Milan), Falstaff, Der Ring des Nibelungen and Andrea Chénier (Opéra Royal de Wallonie), Andrea Chénier (Monte Carlo), Cyrano de Bergerac (Opéra national de Montpellier), Peter Pan (Théâtre du Châtelet), Manon Lescaut (Teatro Regio, Turin) and Cosma’s Marius et Fanny (Marseilles and Avignon). In theatre he has designed costumes for plays by Chekhov, Claudel, Cocteau, Corneille, Dumas fils, Feydeau, Guitry, Ibsen, Kleist, Wilde and Tennessee Williams.