René Escaffre, Jardin de sculptures / Sculpture garden

pictures courtesy of "Foyer de Roumens"

Escaffre's art environment -a classic in France-  portrays the French countryside as many people remember it nostalgically.

Life and works

The fifth in a generation of local masons, René Escaffre (1921-2008) from the small community of Roumens (Haute Garonne, France) when retired at age sixty began making sculptures, using modeled iron frames he covered with layers of concrete and painted in bright colors.

All creations were located in the garden in front of his house.

Escaffre made sculptures of people and animals, depicting scenes from daily life in the countryside as it was in the first half of the 20th century: farmers leaving for the market, children playing, artisans doing their jobs.

He portrayed la campagne in France as we imagine it and with melancholy remember as the good old days.......

After René Escaffre passed away in 2008, the sixth generation of the masons company (René´s son) handles the maintenance of the sculpture garden. 

Documentation

* Website Habitants-paysagistes (by Lille Art Museum from March 2018 on) has a series of pictures by Francis David (1989, 1990) and documentary panels by René Escard (1984-2008)

* Weblog de l´art improbable aux jardins insolites dans l´Aude et les environs (nov 2013)

* Weblog les grisgris de Sophie (September 2014)

* Article by Sonia Terhzaz on her website Cartographie des Rocamberlus (environnements d'art singulier) with an account of her visit to the site in August 2021.

Video

* Fragment on the South-France video by Serflac (1.37.01-1.38.39, YouTube, cannot be embedded here)

first published December 2008, last revised April 2023

René Escaffre

Sculpture garden

Roumens, dept Haute Garonne region Occitanie, France

can be seen from the street