Musée de la Luna Rossa (revisited), Caen, Calvados (14)

Last September I took a few shots of the Musée de la Luna Rossa, although because it's only open at limited times (on Sundays from 1 April) I had to aim my camera high and hope for the best. Unfortunately there was very little to see because of the abundant foliage. It isn't open at the moment either, but because of the time of year I was able to get better pictures:

And a magnificent cockerel kept turning up, obviously interested in what I was doing.

Art brut (Outsider Art) and associated:
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Rémy Callot, Carvin (Nord)
Carine Fol (ed.): L'Art brut en question | Outsider Art in Question
Kevin Duffy, Ashton-in-Makerfield
The Art Brut of Léopold Truc, Cabrières d'Avignon (34)
Le Musée Extraordinaire de Georges Mazoyer, Ansouis (34)
Le Facteur Cheval's Palais Idéal, Hauterives (26)
The Little Chapel, Guernsey
Museum of Appalachia, Norris, Clinton, Tennessee
Ed Leedskalnin in Homestead, Florida
La Fabuloserie, Dicy, Yonne (89)
Street Art City, Lurcy-Lévis, Allier (03)
The Outsider Art of Jean Linard, Neuvy-deux-Clochers (18)
Jean Bertholle, La Fabuloserie, Yonne (89)
Jean-Pierre Schetz, La Fabuloserie, Yonne (89)
Jules Damloup, La Fabuloserie, Yonne (89)
Camille Vidal, La Fabuloserie, Yonne (89)
Pascal Verbena, La Fabuloserie, Yonne (89)
The Art of Theodore Major
Edward Gorey's Yarmouth Port, Cape Cod, MA
Marcel Vinsard in Pontcharra, Isère (38)
Vincent Capt: Écrivainer : La langue morcelée de Samuel Daiber
The Amazing World of Danielle Jacqui, Roquevaire (13)
Alphonse Gurlie, Maisonneuve (07)
Univers du poète ferrailleur, Lizio, Morbihan
Les Rochers sculptés de L'Abbé Fouré, Rothéneuf, Saint-Malo
Robert Tatin in Cossé-le-Vivien, Mayenne
René Raoul's Jardin de pierre in Pléhédel, Côtes d'Armor
La Demeure du Chaos, Saint-Romain-au-Mont-d'Or, Rhône (69)
Emmanuel Arredondo in Varennes Vauzelles, Nièvre (58)
Musée de la Luna Rossa (revisited), Caen, Calvados (14)
La Fontaine de Château-Chinon, Nièvre (58)

Joep Van Lieshout's La Caravane in Caen, Calvados (14)

La Caravane, by Dutch sculptor Joep Van Lieshout, caused some negative reactions on its installation in La Place Saint-Sauveur in Caen. It cost 204,000 euros (two thirds financed by the town) and some people found it not to their taste, although this of course is art, and as Van Lieshout noted: 'The worse thing would be indifference.' Quite. Emotion in time of crisis is the representation, the Great War, D Day. Mayor Philippe Duron saw the scultures as a comment from the people in front of the huge statue of Louis XIV, touchable sculptures, far removed from the aristocratic representation.

George Brummell, aka Beau Brummell in Caen, Calvados (14)

I'd only vaguely heard of Beau Brummell many years ago, although I was not acquainted with anything about his life history, other than knowing that he was a dandy. But a fuller picture of him makes very interesting reading, such as the hours he took to dress, the bills his obsession for clothes amounted to, his flight to France from his English creditors, and his death in Caen in very reduced circumstances. He is buried here in what are now university grounds in the very small Protestant cemetery. Interestingly, his clothes appear to have had a subsequent influence on the way we dress.

Jaume Plensa in Caen, Calvados (14)

I had to do a double take here. I hadn't seen this sculpture when in the city of Caen, but from this poster in the outskirts I knew it to be the work of the Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa. This is only a temporary installation, unlike the permanent work in Sutton Manor, Saint Helens, Merseyside, UK:

Boîte à lire in Caen, Calvados (14)

One of two identical boîtes à lire in the jardin des plantes in Caen. I like the pencil.

Boîtes à lire:
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Boîte à Lire, Dicy, Nièvre
Boîte à lire, Maisons-Laffitte, Yvelines
Boîte à lire, Sorigny, Indre-et-Loire
Boîte à Lire, Jonzac, Charente-Maritime
Boîte à lire, La Roque-d'Anthéron, Bouches-du-Rhône
Boîte à Lire, Épineuil-le-Fleuriel, Cher
Boîte à lire, Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône
Boîte à lire, East Markham, UK
Boîte à lire, La Folie Couvrechef, Caen, Calvados
Boîte à lire, Bergues, Nord
Boîte à lire, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime
Boîte à lire, Villerville, Calvados
Boîte à lire, Saint-Servan, Saint-Malo, Ille-et-Vilaine
Boîte à lire in Caen, Calvados
Boîte à Lire, Noyant d'Allier, Allier
Boîte à lire, Dampierre-en-Burly, Loiret
Boîte à lire, Illiers-Combray, Eure-et-Loir
Boîte à lire, Chartres, Eure-et-Loir
Boîte à lire, Saint-Romain-au-Mont-d'Or, Rhône

Charles Lemaître in Caen, Calvados (14)

Charles Lemaître, who was born in 1854 in Saint-Georges-d'Aunay and 1928 in Caen, was a poet who wrote in Norman French, and nicknamed 'Le Chansonnier du Bocage'. The original bust of 1932 in the jardin des plantes was melted by the Germans in the war, but this second one was erected in 1981. His works: Eiou qu'y va lé trachi, Contes drolatiques en patois bas-normand, (1912); Les Joyeux Bocains (1917); Hélas qu'c'est drôle (1924); and Bonnes gens de Normandie (1941).

Jardin des plantes in Caen, Calvados (14)

Le Jardin des plantes in Caen is a very pleasant place to relax for an hour or so, and I was particularly impressed by this butterfly made of plants and the bench carved out of a tree trunk.

René Duchez in Caen, Calvados (14)

René Duchez (1903-48) was a hero of the French Resistance, the Caen group, and is noted for stealing plans of the Atlantic wall: he was a painter who contrived to be employed by the kommandantur. This part of his biography was very losely adapted as a film by Marcel Camus entitled Le Mur de l'Atlantique (1970), starring Bourvil.

Le Mémorial de Caen, Caen, Calvados (14)

Le Mémorial de Caen is a museum of history, or a monument to peace. We had no time to visit it, although it is one of the most visited sites in France. Two outside comments attracted me : The Knotted Gun is by Carl Fredrik Reutersward, and Paul Éluard's

'Je suis né pour te connaître

Pour te nommer

Liberté'.

Musée de la Luna Rossa, Caen, Calvados (14)

Le Musée de la Luna Rossa is slightly removed from the centre of Caen, although within easy walking distance. It contains many works of local art brut artists, but (as the first image below states), it is only open on Sundays. And of course we weren't there on Sunday. After the shot of the gates there was only a weird image on an adjoining garage, and the final three photos are tantalising snippets I took from gaps in the railings. But I'll be back!

François de Malherbe, Caen, Calvados (14)

Poet François de Malherbe (1555-1628) was born in this building in the centre of Caen. A statue of him is in the centre of Caen a few hundred metres away.

Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, Caen, Calvados (14)

A plaque stating that Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly lived in this house from 1931 to 1933 when a student of law.

Guillaume Trébutien, Caen, Calvados (14)

Guillaume-Stanislas Trébuctien (1800-70) was a friend of Barbey d'Aurevilly. He was a translator, orientalist and publisher, and was another writer buried in le Cimetière des Quatre-Nations. The medallion is by Leharivel-Durocher.

Amédée Renée, Caen, Calvados (14)

Amédée René (1807-59) – also in the Cimetière des Quatre-Nations – was a writer and historian born in Caen. His wish was to be buried in the town of his birth.

Émile Alliot-Préjardin, Caen, Calvados (14)

Émile Alliot-Préjardin (1831-1914) lies in the wonderful leafy (and slightly spooky) Cimetière des quatre-Nations not far from Caen city centre. He established the paper Le Bonhomme normand.

Jacques Prévert and Alexandre Trauner in Omonville-la-Petite graveyard, Manche (50)

Jacques Prévert lies with his wife Simone and daughter Michèle at the back of the graveyard in the church in Omonville-la-Petite (Manche).

I've seen many tributes on graves, but (with the possible exception of Norman Rockwell's, not to mention Jim Morrison's) I think this takes some beating.

Right behind Prévert's grave is that of Alexandre Trauner, who also loved Omonville.