Catherine Ringer, Who Championed Her Father Sam Ringer's Art, Dies at 68
Catherine Ringer, renowned for her role in the French duo Les Rita Mitsouko, passed away on September 14 at the age of 68 due to "cancer foudroyant." She was the daughter of Sam Ringer, a painter and Holocaust survivor born in 1918 in Tarnów, Poland. Following his deportation to nine concentration camps, he moved to Paris in 1947. Catherine dedicated herself to promoting his artwork, donating a piece to the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme in 1999 and selling approximately one hundred pieces at Bonhams in 2023. Her notable songs included "Andy," "Les Histoires d'A.," and "Marcia Baïla." After the death of her partner Fred Chichin in 2007, she carried on the legacy of Les Rita Mitsouko while also embarking on a solo career.
Key facts
- Catherine Ringer died on the night of September 14 at age 68 from a "cancer foudroyant," according to a family statement.
- She was the voice of Les Rita Mitsouko, the duo she formed with partner Fred Chichin.
- Her father, Sam Ringer, was born in 1918 in Tarnów, Poland, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family.
- Sam Ringer studied at the Beaux-Arts in Kraków before the Nazi invasion of Poland, was deported and interned in nine concentration camps, and settled in Paris in 1947.
- In 1999 Catherine Ringer donated one of her father's works to the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme.
- A film by Isabelle Filleul de Brohy for the museum shows Ringer in her father's studio with his works and archival documents.
- In 2023 she put around one hundred of her father's works up for sale at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr in Paris.
- Fred Chichin died of cancer in 2007; Ringer continued Les Rita Mitsouko's spirit and a solo career.
Entities
Artists
- Catherine Ringer
- Fred Chichin
- Sam Ringer
- Marcia Moretto
- Isabelle Filleul de Brohy
- Annette Messager
- Serge Gainsbourg
- Yaël Braun-Pivet
Institutions
- Les Rita Mitsouko
- Beaux-Arts de Cracovie
- Beaux-Arts de Paris
- Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme
- Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr
- Beaux Arts
- Ina
- Süddeutsche Zeitung
- Rita Mitsouko
- Le Monde
- AFP
- Canal+
- France Inter
- Philharmonie de Paris
- Assemblée nationale
- ministère de la Justice
- Ministère de la Justice
Locations
- Tarnów
- Poland
- Kraków
- Paris
- France
- Argentina
- Frankreich
- Argentine