Bodan Litnianski, Jardin du coquillage/Garden of shells

Portrait (2002) by Laurent Jacquy, Vivement Dimanche

Life and works

Bodan Litnianski (1913-2005) migrated around 1930 from Ukraine to France, to work there as a bricklayer and a mason. After World II, that saw him captivated, he returned to France and bought a house in Viry-Noureuil, near Chauny, dept Aisne, northern France.

He had to restore this old house and doing this he also decorated some outside walls with shells (this probably made the neighbours talk about the site as a garden of shells, the name, not very properly, ultimately given to this environment).

After having decorated the outside walls, mr Litnianski continued the project, by transforming the garden along the street. He would haunt the region and collect thrown away materials, like puppets, toys, all kinds of scrap... He arranged these objets trouvés into very colourful columns, that were erected in the garden at the front of the house (all done very solidly, mr Litnianski knowing about masonry....). Working vertically maybe was not only a wonderful creative idea, but probably also a practical necessity, because of the smallness of the plot.

Most of these colums have weather-vanes on top. Bodan Litnianski used to construct them (on winterdays) by re-employing thrown away materials.

Mr Litnianski liked to meet people who came to visit his creation and he was proud to tell them that it's lay-out had been conceptualized all by himself.

House and garden are on sale

Bodan Litnianski died in 2005. His wife, Mme Emilie Litnianski, went on to take care of the site, untill in 2008, she also passed away. Since then, the site is closed for the public.

A local newspaper has reported (june 2009) that the inheritors have decided to put the house on sale. They prefer that someone who (or some organisation that) is interested in maintaining the site, will react and will make a good offer.

Documentation
* Denys Riout, introduction Agnès Varda, photo's Benjamin Teissèdre and Laurent Jacquy, Le jardin des merveilles de Bodan Litnianski,  (Texts in french and english, the book can still be ordered at Editions Vivement Dimanche).
* In OEE-texts I republished the preface of Agnès Varda.
*Also in OEE-texts the translation of an article by the architect Jean-Marc Huygen. This article is a plea to save the site as an example of how re-employment of the waste of society can contribute to durability.
* Early 2010 a new website has been published. Authored by Laurent Jacquy, this site is completely devoted to life and works of Bodan Litnianski. This website has a nice collection of pictures of the environment and has texts in french and english.
* Bodan Litnianski has appeared in the Agnès Varda movie Les glaneurs et la glaneuse (France, 2000, 90m).  The scenes with Litnianski on this Youtube video, starting at 5.23

first published nov 2008, revised jun 2009, jan, jun, dec 2010, nov 2011

Bodan Litnianski

Jardin du Coquillage

15 rue Jean Jaures

Viry-Noureuil

02300 Chauny FR
closed for the public

Litnianski weergeven op een grotere kaart