"Dying Vagrant Hailed as 'Extraordinary Artistic Talent' "

John Lichfield and Will Bland, The Independent 24 September 2003

A down-and-out artist who has spent the past two years sleeping and
working on the street in Paris has been hailed as an "extraordinary
talent".But Joseph, whose full name and origins are unknown, may not live to enjoy
the belated acclaim of the art world. He was taken to hospital last month
suffering from what is feared to be terminal bone cancer. Admirers say he
continues to turn out dozens of paintings and collages in hospital.

An exhibition of Joseph's works -- some of which were painted on cardboard
boxes -- will shortly be held at a Paris gallery. The French modern art
museum at the Centre Georges Pompidou is negotiating to buy one of his
paintings.

"There are hundreds of street painters in Paris and hundreds of other
would-be painters who exhibit in small galleries. Very few -- none I would
say -- have anything like the ability of Joseph. He is truly an
extraordinary talent," said François Gibault, a Parisian lawyer and
authority on avant-garde art. M. Gibault compares Joseph to the American
artist of Haitian origin, Jean-Michel Basquiat, who was discovered on the
street in New York and died of a drug overdose in 1988, aged 27. Basquiat
canvases are now admired worldwide and sell for tens of thousands of
pounds.

Joseph was first spotted by Parisian art lovers more than a year ago. He
began to sell his paintings for up to $1,000 (£700) a time -- allowing
him to buy blank canvases but also to fuel a drink addiction, which ran to
three bottles of whisky a day. He refused to leave his home on the
pavement of the Rue du Roi-de-Sicile in the Marais district of Paris,
where he spent his days painting, drinking, philosophising and haranguing
passers-by. Many of his paintings are believed to have been stolen while
he slept.

Joseph's roots are unclear. He told well-wishers he was of African origin
and that he had been adopted by a French family and had two French
sisters. But M. Gibault said Joseph insisted, at other times, that he did
not know his second name or anything of his past. He is believed to be
about 36. "He came to my home once and he showed a great knowledge of art
and its history but, as far as I know, was never trained as an artist,"
said M. Gibault, who is president of the Fondation Dubuffet, dedicated to
promoting avant-garde art.

M. Gibault owns seven Joseph paintings. Other Parisian art collectors have
a dozen or more.

Their value has not yet been tested but, according to M. Gibault, is
likely to rise sharply.

Joseph's street soliloquies also displayed great literary knowledge and,
in particular, a love of the novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre
Dumas, which inspired some of his paintings.

One shopkeeper on the Rue du Roi-de-Sicile said Joseph was friendly,
"very, very intelligent" but sometimes incomprehensible. He would sell his
canvases for hundreds of euros and spend the money immediately on luxury
goods and bottles of whisky.

One one occasion, after selling a painting, he splashed the proceeds on a
$300 pair of cowboy boots.

At times Joseph would become withdrawn or even aggressive. He would stop
painting and become forbidding and unapproachable. Joseph's work on the
street ranged from collages to colourful, abstract canvases.

In hospital, he has taken to creating imaginary portraits, mostly of men.
"He has a maturity and a depth of vision which is rarely seen," M. Gibault
said.

Well-wishers say he was taken to hospital in mid-August and was diagnosed
as having "generalised" cancer, which had spread to his bones.