Man of culture but also therefore man of contrasts

Since November 3, of the engagement letter addressed to him by the President of the Republic, Jean-Paul Cluzel found the excitement of the big days. And the smile. Combining the presidencies of the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées and the meeting of national museums (NMR), the ex-PDG of Radio France was given the task of orchestrating the reconciliation of these two closely related facilities to the other - NMR is a tenant of part of the 77.000 square metres of the Grand Palais - to create "a great cultural operator at the international level". A sufficiently ambitious project to turn the page of its non-renewal at the head of the Round House, despite a record held generally positive but tainted end mandate by the antics of comedian Stéphane Guillon on France Inter. A mainly project which cannot fail to enchant the hidden behind the official man of culture.

Man of culture, man of contrasts

Because this Inspector General of Finance of sixty-two years, very close to Alain Juppe which he was the eldest daughter on the baptismal font, is an Aesthete in the soul. His "temptations of Venice" to call the Frick Collection - "my sacred place"-, the Maeght Foundation, the Kröller-Müller Museum "and its magnificent collection of Mondrian"... End music lover, the former Director of the Opéra de Paris - an institution that he left in 1995 to take the reins of RFI - revels "Musical offering" learned contrapuntal architectures, Bach, flutters of emotion when sounds the hour of the death of Isolde in Wagner Opera, place above that the final scene of "Dialogue of the Carmelites", Poulenc... This is not a chance if this last work, of which the libretto is due to the plume of Bernanos, returns more often than to turn on his lips. Its culture, both literary than musical or pictorial, is nourished of spirituality. Which is defined as "gay, Catholic and liberal" day falling always in Ecstasy before the Greco Christ and worship Mauriac. And is contemplating, once his professional life is behind him, to register in theology at Assas for a PhD.

In a more pagan registry, the amateur photographer who does not hesitate to get out his iPhone to capture an unusual scene in the streets of Paris, has a low for the perfect plastic body magnifiés by the eye of Bruce Weber, one of the icons of the Bobo of the Marais quarter. Man of culture, but also, therefore, man of contrasts. A duality that is found in the assessment on its action at the head of RFI - from 1995 to 2004, a quasi-record of longevity in public broadcasting - and, especially, of Radio France. If on the credits generally well able to manage the Round House and advances the hearings of the main antenna, was created a few feuds by imposing Nicolas Demorand place Stéphane Paoli on the morning of France commands. Appointment risky and highly commented in the media, which has partly overshadowed the meteoric ascent during his tenure as several other young wolves, such as Ali Baddou on France Culture. These decisions often earned him to be accused of "jeunisme". This charge, Jean-Paul Cluzel does not seek to defend themselves, on the contrary: "the France has the best public radio of the world, I am intimately convinced." And it is for me a huge reason for pride for having back the hearing ranging search of young journalists who embody what must be, today, this public service.