Monday, August 4, 2014

Espace Croix-Baragon

 Poet. Hill (r) by Mykola Malyshko, 2011
 On Framework by Mykola Malyshko, 2001
Sur Pieds by Mykola Malyshko
Jambes blanches by Mykola Malyshko, 2006

 Attraction by Mykola Malyshko, 2013
Mykola Malyshko
Constructing the New Landscape by Lada Nakonechna, 2012
Reserved by Lada Nakonechna, 2014






Sunday, August 3, 2014

Robert Tatin was a contractor in Laval who bought property in Cossé-le-Vivien in the 1950's. Then in the 60's and 70's created a museum. Full of references to the world religions, he envisioned it as link between the civilizations of the East and of the West.

We begin with The Driveway of Giants, is a series of nineteen cement sculptures Tatin dedicated to historical figures, artists, and abstract ideas. Here are a few:

Vercingetorix
The verb "to be"
Seurat
 Suzanne Valadon & Utrillo

Then there was the museum:
 

And inside there were paintings:

Jeu Numero un by Robert Tatin, 1972
Arcane 6 by Robert Tatin, 1971
Men Du by Robert Tatin, 1960

There was also a sculpture garden of other artists work:


 Starshaman by A. Trossais, 2006
Le Baiser a la Maitresse du vent by D. Goutelle, 2001

And a fountain:

La fontaine de la Solidarite by Jean-Yves Leb, 2011-12

CLICK HERE FOR SO MUCH MORE.

More Art along the way:

 Vivien l'Ecossais 1381-1405 by Rayto Rennes

in Craon

Our next base of operations was in the Loire valley at Beaumont-en-Veron near the confluence of the Loire and Vienne Rivers. There are lots of dolmens in this area:

Dolmen Bagneux
Magdeleine Dolmen
Dolmen La Pagerie
Dolmen de la Fore
 Dolmen du la Bajouliere
Neuville

And the Art was provided by Nature:


Oh yes, and this fountain we found in the neighboring village of Avione:


On our way to Limoges, we detoured to the town of Angouleme. There was supposed to be a sculpture garden there, but it was small and out of reach:


But Angouleme bills itself as “City of Creation,” “the Balcony of the Southwest,” and “Cartoon Capitol.” Lofty titles. We did find evidence of the cartoon claim with a bust of the creator of Tintin – a legendary European cartoon:

 Georges Rmi dit Herge by Tchang Tchong-jen

And there were cartoons all over the place. Here are just a few:


Memories du XXth Ciel after the orig by Yslaire
Réalité sortie de secours by Marc-Antoine Mathieu
 Titeuf after the orig les dessins de Zep

We stopped at the local F.R.A.C. and saw a rather depressing show about prison life:

by David Brognon and Stéphanie Rollin

And then there was this cryptic message:

The contemporary art center at the Chateau du Rochechouarte was on the way to Limoges as well:

Modern Love by Kent Monkman, 2012
 The Symposium by Kent Monkman, 2012.
Rochechouart line by Richard Long, 1990
Ghost Dance by Julien Dubuisson, 2010



And one more sculpture on the way:

Muse de Corot in St. Junien
We began in town with the Musee des Beaux Arts, which had lots to offer.  Limoges is very proud of their position in the decorative arts and included this in their displays.  The enamels represent the second largest collection after l'Hermitage:

Le cours du matin des jeunes filles a l'Ecole national d'art decoratif de Limoges by Auguste Aridas, 1889
 by Francis Chigot after a drawing by Leon Jouhaud, 1908
(enamel work)
Le jarden sous la mer by Christian Christel, 1982

And there was a Renoir that he gave to the city, since this was the place he was born:

 Portrait of Colona Romano by Auguste Renoir, 1916

There were also Berthe Morisots:

Les enfants de Gabriel Thomas by Berthe Morisot, 1894
Portrait de Louise Riesener by Berthe Morisot, 1888

And an artist we just learned about, Suzanne Valadon.  She was a model for Renoir in Paris, most notably the dancing painting, and others, but she was also a superlative artist in her own right.

 La Chambre bleue by Suzanne Valadon, 1923
 Roses dans un verre by Suzanne Valadon, 1936

There was a room of Elie Lascaux:

 Le Phare de la Coubre by Elie Lascaux, 1927
Les Vignes by Elie Lascaux, 1928

There was even a room for artwork by Suzanne Lalique-Haviland, but I found that her work as a model for the other Laliques to be more interesting:



There was much Art to be seen on the streets of Limoges:

macaroons
former meat storage building
some of the 368 tiles around the market building

The Limoges-Benedictins station opened in 1929, and is very artistic.  It has been named the most beautiful in all of Europe:

 

 We traveled east of the city to Eymoutier, the home of Espace Paul Rebeyrolle.  I would rather not give Mr. Rebeyrolle's bio here, but will say that he was always an artist and had great success in Paris and around the world.  Eymoutier was his birthplace and the gallery was established in 1989.  He died in 2005.  Here are some of his works:

Planchemouton by Paul Rebeyrolle, 1959
 Le Magistrats I by Paul Rebeyrolle, 1991
Adam & Eve (Et Dieu cree la reprssion) by Paul Rebeyrolle, 2002
Totem by Paul Rebeyrolle, 2002
Paysage by Paul Rebeyrolle, 1978

Then we found our way to Ile de Vassivierre and the Centre international d'art et du paysage and sculpture park.  The island is connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway and we walked across in the rain and immediately began looking for sculptures:

Passages Fer by Jean Clareboudt, 1991
 Steinland by Jean-Pierre Uhlen, 1990
Sans titre by Andy Goldsworth, 1992
Kimio Tsuchiya
Eternity by Eimio Tsuchiya, 1990

Inside the center was an exhibit that didn't really photograph well, except for one piece:

Le Barrage, linogravure collective, 2013
art center
inside the tower

That's about it for our trip.  We made a couple of stops on the way back to Toulouse, such as Saint Cirq-Lapopie:


And saw a few more sculptures along the way:


But I wanted to leave you with some of the statues of Joan of Arc we found on our trip:

Toulouse
Montpazier
Bordeaux
Rennes
Laval

Cossé-le-Vivien
Limoges