Michel: I don’t want to entertain darkness. People can feel energy in your creations. That is why I want [to exude] joy and positivity! (Photo: Diana Khoo/ The Edge)
Every globetrotter, jet-setter or sun-seeker worth his fleur de sel would not dispute the fact that Nice is, for want of a better adjective, very nice. Its Old Town, also known as Vieux Nice, is particularly charming. Facing the stunning and aptly named Baie des Anges (Bay of Angels) and located just below Castle Hill, Vieux Nice is all about narrow streets drenched with character, architecture that boasts French, Arabic and Italian cultural influences, atmospheric markets, lavender stalls, shops selling handcrafted trinkets and a number of tony art galleries. After all, it is the South of France and, chances are, holidaying tycoons would need something beautiful to haul back to their Sanlorenzo yachts.
Certainly, the region, with its lovely climate, has long been a magnet for the creative set. Filmmaker and auteur Marcel Pagnol, nicknamed the Bard of Provence, immortalised its legendary lifestyle through his oeuvre while painters like Matisse, Chagall, Monet and Bonnard were drawn by its inimitable light. Attracting talent from somewhat further afield this time is Malaysian artist and sculptor Michel Anthony, 66, who has called Nice home for 34 years now.
Not far from the Cours Saleya, Nice’s main marketplace, and the celebrated Promenade des Anglais, is his eponymously named Atelier Anthony. The gallery, right on historic rue Droite, stands next to the 17th-century Palais Lascaris. “I wanted to give more visibility to my artworks, so we decided to install the atelier-cum-showroom in the Old Town,” he says. “I have lived here for so long. But you know what’s nice about Nice? You never know who is gonna walk through your door.”
Cutting an arresting figure with his big grin, mop of salt-and-pepper curls, small but trim build and signature cravat — “it’s the Milanese style,” he says — the Bruas-born boy is as friendly and open as they come. “I have been a full-time artist here since 1991. Yes, I have lived away from home for so long but I love it here in Nice. The people are kind, and very open to foreigners. But, as with all cities, you need to know how to navigate yourself. And that is something time — or rather, the wisdom that comes with age and experience — teaches you.”
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Tough beginnings
Born the son of rubber tappers in November 1958 in Perak, it was his inherent sense of adventure that led Michel out into the world. “I was the second of four boys and four girls, but the eldest son,” he says. “It was a simple life growing up and I ran around barefoot. I remember sometimes having a swim in the river before school and doing a lot of fishing, catching things like ikan keli and haruan. My parents, of course, wanted the best for us but we sometimes didn’t have enough and had to borrow money to buy rice before month’s end. My parents worked seven days a week, without a day off, just to earn enough to feed us.”
At the age of six, Michel was sent seven miles away, from the Sungai Reyla estate to Sungai Siput, to kindergarten. “Even though I was still young, I knew that things were expensive,” he deadpans. “My father had to pay someone to transport me. Then when I started primary school, we couldn’t afford to pay my bus fare for three months. I remember feeling so ashamed I told my father, ‘Papa, I am stopping school. I want to work to help you.’”
When he eventually left school at 13 to tap rubber, an opportunity presented itself. “The assistant manager of the estate had a cousin who worked in a dispensary and there was a position vacant. We were told it would be better prospects for someone like me.” What followed was a series of short stints that he took on whenever and wherever available, from working in a grocery shop, being a jaga (watchman) and even delivering goods to an air base. “I then harboured ambitions to join the military,” Michel says, adding, “but I also remember always loving art and being creative, playing with modelling clay, sketching …”
In fact, even during school days, Michel would always be doodling. Sometimes, he would win commissions from friends. “Someone even asked me to draw pictures for a girl he was interested in,” he laughs.
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Later on, after finding work aboard ships, Michel also ran a sport fishing agency in Sri Lanka. His face bears the toll of a life lived under harsh sun buffeted by strong winds. “It all started around 1976. I was working for a company that did local Penang to Phuket charters. One day, an Australian skipper asked if I could help deliver a 20m ocean-going yacht from Singapore to the Mediterranean. I didn’t even know where or what the Mediterranean was then,” he laughs. “I told my father I had an opportunity to travel and he gave me his blessing.”
While helping to bring the boat, first from Singapore to Penang, something told Michel it would be an adventure to remember and he duly began keeping a diary. He showed us a stack of weathered books filled with scribbles and notes in his small handwriting which tell tales of voyages from Penang to Galle in Sri Lanka, then to Mahé in the Seychelles and so on. “There were seven of us on board: five Australians, one Kiwi and one Malaysian. I remember once we were completely lost at sea for two whole days and how we got hit by a terrible storm that shredded our sails like paper.”
It was the start of an exciting chapter of life at sea, with stops at exotic ports of call like Goa, Bombay, Oman, Djibouti, the Red Sea, the Suez Canal and Lanarca. It was during the 1981 Cypriot stopover that someone noticed Michel’s incredible work ethic and promptly offered him a spot on board the renowned 1960s American fashion designer Ken Scott’s yacht. It would prove to be the most important turning point in the young shiphand’s life. “After three or four days of doing odd jobs, Ken offered me the thing that changed everything for me,” he recalls with gratitude. “I started off by working for him, on the yacht during the summer season and winters in Milan and Florence. He also kept a villa in Nice. That was how our friendship began.”
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The riviera life
For the boy from rural Bruas, being thrust into the orbit of the legendary designer and artist was the most colourful stroke of luck. Founder of the Falconetto label and known as the “King of Flowers” for his bold designs and psychedelic prints — his dresses were worn by Audrey Hepburn in Two for the Road while none other than Peggy Guggenheim organised his first personal exhibition — the Indiana-born and Parsons-educated Scott somehow took a shine to Michel, hiring him as his personal assistant.
With Scott as his mentor and encouraged also by his coterie of equally creative friends like Susan Nevelson and Sylvia Braverman, Michel worked on honing his creative skills and even pursued formal arts studies at the Brera Academy and La Scuola Superiore d’Arte Applicata all’Industria del Castello Sforzesco in Milan. “It is hard not to be influenced or moved by art living in Italy. Ken was very good to me. I worked for him by day (the Falconetto brand was headquartered in Milan) and went to art school by night. It was never in my designs to be an artist but, I guess, life always has a plan for you.”
After Scott passed away in 1991, Michel toyed with the idea of returning to Malaysia. “I worked as his personal assistant for 10 good years and was all set to go home,” he admits. “I was living in Menton then, and some friends invited me to a barbeque one night in Col d’Èze.” What transpired was a coup de foudre. “I met Magali that evening. She’s Niçoise (her father was a veterinarian here) but born in, what I call, Chirac Land, or Corrèze,” he laughs, referring to the birthplace of the former French president.
Marrying in December 1992 at the City Hall, the couple honeymooned in Mottola, Italy, and looked forward to a wonderful long life together. Alas, fate had different plans: Magali tragically passed away in 2003. But Michel rolled with the punches. He still maintains a routine, taking the 10-minute walk from his home to the studio daily, to sculpt and paint with dogged discipline. It is only on Sundays that he allows himself a day off but is still happy to receive guests by prior appointment. The high season of summer, however, dictates a gruelling seven-day week. “It is not easy to survive as an artist here or anywhere,” he states matter-of-factly. “And I have to work hard to maintain this studio, as everyone knows the South of France is not cheap. But economics aside, I want to keep on creating because Magali always believed in my art. So now, even though she’s gone, I still put everything of myself in it.”
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Those who visit the Atelier Anthony will no doubt find Michel’s words ringing true. It would be impossible not to be captivated by a huge sculpture of a pohon beringin or “tree of life”, fashioned out of white bronze, considered in Asian mythology as a gateway between the seen and unseen worlds. There is also Venezia, an artistic paean to the medico della peste carnival mask but with a short beak-like nose, and several versions of one of his most famous motifs — the heart.
Although self-taught, Michel received affirmation of his calling when, in 2005, the first sculpture he entered in a competition won first prize. Today, his works grace public spaces and luxurious homes. Taimeless, a shiny new high-end gallery that opened in glitzy Taormina, Sicily, last year, also carries several of his works.
“I first met Michel in France in 2006, introduced by [then] Malaysian ambassador S Thanarajasingam,” says dance legend Datuk Ramli Ibrahim. “Our Sutra troupe had performed at the Unesco headquarters in Paris. I remember Michel telling me about his amazing life story, sailing his way to Europe, working in Italy and making his home in Nice, not ever realising his destiny as an artist. Slowly but surely, he found his niche in painting and sculpture via fashion. Since then, Sutra Gallery has presented several exhibitions by him. But for me, his dance sculptures are the most compelling as they capture the idea of him as a romantic, fascinated by the body as the ideal symbol of beauty and love.
“Michel’s work is superb, innovative and highly acknowledged by the French community,” adds HE Datuk Eldeen Husaini Mohd Hashim, incumbent ambassador of Malaysia to France. “He certainly has led an extraordinary life and, not just survived against all odds, but also thrived. I for one admire his courage and strength, all the while representing Malaysia through his art.”
Michel’s works are cast at the prestigious Massimo Del Chiaro Foundry of Art (favoured by Fernando Botero, Mauro Coda and Giuseppe Penone) in Pietrasanta, Italy, which uses the “lost wax casting” technique, the same one used by the ancient Greeks for their bronzes. “I believe in narrating positive dreams and vibes through my artworks,” he muses. “I don’t want to entertain darkness. People can feel energy in your creations. That is why I want [to exude] joy and positivity!”
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La vie est belle
The day we met, Michel was hard at work, fashioning a small but charming sculpture of a sanglier or wild boar, an increasingly common sight in the French countryside. He also showed us newspaper clippings of him with the many luminaries who crossed his path in this privileged part of the world, including HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco and the legendary Italian actress Claudia Cardinale. “I just shipped out a Tree of Life painting to Canada. January is starting good. Life is not easy here so when I create something I am happy about, the feeling is simply wonderful. But,” he adds as caveat, “inspiration does not come on command although anything can trigger it.”
On the next visit to his tanah air, Michel observes wistfully, “I have been away for so long, too long. Once, I even forgot how to speak Tamil properly to my father. I miss my relatives all the time. I come from a big family — I have 23 nephews and nieces, and counting — yet no one has been able to visit me. I will always be a proud Malaysian — you can see the Jalur Gemilang hanging in my studio — and although I presently live in Nice, I know I’ll be back someday. Just not now as I still have moments to appreciate here. But when I do come home, the first thing I want is a teh tarik. For now, the adventure goes on.”
Atelier Anthony is at 20, rue Droite, Nice, France.
This article first appeared on Feb 17, 2025 in The Edge Malaysia.
