Jacques Cousteau, Calypso and André Laban

Jacques-Yves Cousteau's celebrated boat the Calypso needs a lot of money spending on it to save it from becoming a wreck. How many of us watched the old Cousteau underwater discoveries? I remember them being the highlight of our TV viewing. As well as the wonderful sea life, there was also a sense of debonair charm about the filming of the man, the divers and technicians on the boat and the life they led in and around the Med.

When we came to St. Antonin we met André Laban who lives in the area had been one of the photographers on the boat for most of the Calypo's shooting time. He joined Cousteau with no experience just a desire to photograph and be with the team, and has he got tales to tell about that time! André is also  a very keen artist and in his diving days used to paint with oils underwater. We bought one of his canvases painted underwater and the colours of the sea and the light he says are exactly as he saw them whilst he painted. Sometimes you buy art and get fed up of it but this particular picture actually painted under the seas still gives us immense pleasure.

Laban's underwater blues

I would like to think the Calypso could be saved.
Tim Grosvenor who used to have an art gallery in St. Antonin knew André well and in his blog writes this about him

 Like all great artists Andre is passionate about observation. When he was diving he could see the intensity of the blue around him. However, when he tried to capture this sensation in photographs there was something missing. The images did not really capture the sensation of being underwater. The blues were not as intense. He therefore did exactly what Turner would have done (if he had had the technology), he took his canvas underwater and painted what he saw. 
to find out more of the Caypso restoration check out this link
http://www.cousteau.org/about-us/calypso-saved-restoration-history

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