Jean-Pascal Nehr, Bowmaker
Event Date: 9/17/2018
Ifshin Violins has been fortunate to be able to host well known French bowmaker Jean Pascal Nehr at our workshop in El Cerrito for two months this fall. Jean-Pascal studied with Bernard Ouchard in Mirecourt, France, in 1974. He now runs and owns a workshop in Marseille. His bows are inspired by the French School style of the 19th century and he has won numerous prizes for his bowmaking, including 'Best Craftsman of France' in 1997.
"In 1998, a well-known bow expert and collector suggested that I make a copy of a François Xavier Tourte bow.
I was very pleased with the proposal. Moreover, I had just bought some Pernambuco wood sticks from Jean Jacques Millant's stock at an auction sale in Paris, in other words, high-quality sticks which were at least half a century old. One of the sticks definitely appeared to me as being the ideal one for the Tourte copy.
A few weeks later, I received the original François Xavier Tourte bow, made around 1825-1830, one of the master's last bows. A magnificent stick, delicate, even fragile, made in a rough and almost blunt way, the result being a subtle mixture of elegance and power.
For this type of long-lasting bow, the thickness of the metal and the number of pins identify the master. The straight line is never quite straight, there's always movement; the bow's beauty comes from its simplicity its efficiency."-Jean Pascal Nehr