July 23, 2009

Louis Tourquetil, Honneur à nos libérateurs / In honor of our liberators

this picture and the next one (September 2008) 
courtesy of Marcello14 (Flickr)

This is my 100th post.

I dedicate this one to the memory of Louis Tourquetil (1916-1997), who lived in the little community of Sainte-Honorine-des-Perles on the coast of Normandy, France, very close to Arromanches and the other beaches where in 1944 the invasion took place.


The pictures show a model of a warplane and a (in my view very moving) wooden representation of a soldier coming down with his parachute.

Tourquetil made these creations as a tribute to the troops that landed in 1944 in Normandy to free France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands from the German occupation. June 2009 it was a united Europe that could pay tribute to the 65th anniversary of the invasion.

A reader of this blog has commented that Tourquetil was the Tonton Louis (Uncle Louis) of his family, who with his eccentricity endowed his family with moments of laughter and unforgettable crazy acts.

Annex to his house he had a workshop where he made his creations.

Tourquetil in his workshop
this and the next picture courtesy of Art Insolite Amis

After he had died in 1997 this workshop was left unattended for and it was vandalized, until eventually in 2002 the whole property was pulled down to be replaced by newly build houses.


Not much has been left of Tourquetil's creations. The plane and the soldier pictured in this post, are in the collection of the Musée-jardin de la Luna Rossa in Caen, where they are exposed. And the Lille Art Museum also has some planes and parachutists in its collection.

That probably is all that is left from Louis Tourquetil's creative activity.

Louis Tourquetil
(formerly) 14520 Sainte Honorine des Perles. dept Calvados, region Normandy, France
site demolished
(rescued items in) Musée-jardin de la Luna Rossa, Caen

can be visited on sunday afternoons, apr-oct

8 comments:

  1. Sad and yet - they must be wonderful to happen on in the garden.

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  2. That's sad that more of his work wasn't preserved... the ravages of time...

    Thanks very much for you message !

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  3. It´s a shame, but once again, Outsider Environments gave a voice to those artist from the past (remember Pierre Dange). Louis Tourquetil still remembered. congratulations for the 100 posts, and may come 1000 more.

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  4. Hauntingly beautiful images.

    Congratulation on your 100th post! I enjoy your blog.

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  5. Thanks all, for the comments. I hope to go on for some time...there still are environments to be discovered and admired. Let's just see what is going to happen.

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  6. bonjour a tous!louis tourquetil était le "tonton louis" pour la famille.par ses excentricitées,il a permit a la famille de partager des moments et des crises de fou rire inoubliables!!! je vous remercie par ce blog de lui rendre hommage ! et a l occasion un coup de cidre ou de calva avec une pensée pour ce représentant méconnu de l art naïf!

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    1. Ce qui est magnifique, c'est que ce site fasse connaître au monde de l'Art, l'importance de ce qu'était l'oeuvre de votre Oncle Louis. Louis Tourquetil avait un don extraordinaire qu'il serait bon de partager encore plus. Auriez-vous des photos de ce qu'il réalisait, des photos avec lui, avec ses créations, du lieu même où il les exposait? Si ces photos de famille comporte des figures, ou visages, il est possible de les cacher pour préserver votre anonymité, mais faites parvenir toute photo que vous puissiez avoir de votre Tonton Louis, car par ce biais, vous lui rendrez un bien bel hommage postume. Contactez Outsider Environnement, ou contactez moi si vous voulez, je ferai parvenir vos photos à l'auteur du Blog avec lequel je partage des informations régulièrement. En toute sincérité. Françoise

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  7. Looking at Louis Tourquetil Henk, and this last comment of 'Anonymous', I do wonder if the Family of 'Tonton Louis' who has such a good memory of their eccentric Tonton, could have some photos to share with you, to put Louis Tourquetil even more back in everybody's memory...? Why not to call on the Family to share their photos online with you, with the Outsider's world!

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