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| front of the house pictures are from Google Streetview, May 2023 |
The French municipality of Kembs with some 4100 inhabitants (2005), is located along the river Rhin. The city has the first and oldest (1932) of the eight lock complexes that shipping encounters between Basel and Strasbourg.
Of a completely different order, but certainly as interesting from the perspective of art environments by non-professionals, is the house with decorations pictured above.
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| the decorations as in 2008 on Streetview |
Life and works
The decorated house is a creation by Bernard Rein, who started the project in 1998.
It all began in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, a commune in the Vosges, about 90 kilometers from Kembs, known for its mineral trade. There Bernard Rein found all kinds of stones that appealed to him and which he bought with the idea to use these to decorate the outside of his house.
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| top of the front facade |
He used the stones indeed to embellish the exterior of his house, but the decorations do not only consist of purchased minerals.
Bernard Rein is a true collector of all kinds of stuff and the basement of his house is full of items found at flea markets or, as the project progressed, donated by friends who wanted to support the decorative project.
Adding decorative items is done by Bernard Rein on the basis of the inspiration of the moment, without a preconceived plan, just following themes or stories that come to his mind.
In this way the house gradually became a colorful art environment, with a completely filled facade, a partially decorated side wall on the right and a decorated front of an adjacent small building,
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| right side of the front facade |
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| left side of the front facade |
The decorations include a colourful collection of all sorts of items. For example, there are small sculptures from Djibouti, an African country located along the Red Sea, but also all sorts of fossils from Morocco.
There are small sculptures of Indians, all sorts of compositions in which shells are incorporated, souvenirs from trips made and all sorts of items from flea markets, found by Bernard Rein himself or by one of his friends
One can also see items that relate to the area near the house. For example, there is a plaque with a name that is not immediately familiar to everyone, understandably, because it is an item connected to a ship that was no longer used for navigation and was moored in the Rhône-Rhine Canal, that flows through the area behind the house.
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| decorations on the right side wall |
Other items with a background that may not be immediately clear to everyone, originate from a collaboration between Bernard Rein and a magician and friends, who were involved in a circus in Switzerland and whom he assisted in performances or other activities.
Comparing the recent images of the site with the image of the front of the house in 2008, it can be seen that the tympanum had not yet been worked on and that the other surfaces have a calmer appearance than they do now.
This may be related to Bernard Rein's increasing skill and daring in treating the walls with a mixture of plaster, cement, water and natural pigments, which he now adds resolutely to the area to be decorated, in order to transform it into creative items or to incorporate found items into it.
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| the house as situated along the road |
Documentation
* Article (July 2023) in regional journal l'Alsace with a large series of photographs showing in particular details of the decoration
* Article (August 2024) in journal France 3 Grand Est
* Entry (September 2024) on the newspaper of BFM TV Alsace, with a short video (can't be added here)
Bernard Rein,
Decorated house
14, rue des Jardins
68680 Kembs, dept Haut-Rhin, region Grand Est, France
the decorated house can be seen from the street
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