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Robert Émile Ernest Tatin (9 January 1902 - 16 December 1983) was a French artist best known for having created spectacular "Environment Art" at the Robert Tatin Museum at Cossé-le-Vivien, Mayenne in western France.

Biography[edit]

Tatin was born in the village of Laval, Mayenne, in France. His father was Ernest Louis Tatin (born 1873, in Selles-sur-Cher) [2] and his mother was Anaïs Augustine Lemonnier (born 1875, in Laval).

Born the Avesnière neighborhood of Laval, the young Tatin was closely nurtured by the women close to him - his mother, his grandmother, his sister, his nurse and his neighbors. Women remain a central element in his work and in his life. Tatin's father, originally a commercial employee, finally abandonned his desk job and joined the world of the fairground. Circus life also had a profound effect on the young Tatin and was to become another strong theme throughout his later work.

From 1909 Tatin was a student at the local school, but was a lonely pupil, developing a taste for nature walks, art and astronomy, and being particularly interested the passage of Halley's Comet. In 1913, at the age of fourteen, he became an apprentice to a house painter.

Travels[edit]

After spending his childhood and adolescence in Laval, in 1918 Tatin moved to Paris where he held many jobs and was engaged in various artistic activities. He registered with the Ecole des Beaux Arts and with the workshop of the Ecole des Arts Appliqués.

He spent four years military service at Chartres. In 1924, after his service, he returned with his wife in Laval where he worked as a carpenter on various construction sites. In 1930 the construction company in Laval branched out into house decoration, house painting and tapestry. With business booming Tatin was sufficienlty wealthy to travel and he visited Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Belgium, England, Ireland and Northern Africa. In 1938, he discovered Amsterdam and New York.

In 1939 he was sent to the Maginot Line but was discharged the following year and resumed his activities as a building-contractor in Laval and Paris.

Between 1945 and 1950 Tatin was the owner of a coal-merchant store in rue de la Cerisaie in Paris. This gradually became a ceramics workshop and the period saw Tatin moving from being a craftsman to being an artist. He began to make his name as artist with art critics and met some of the major figures in the French art orld such as Jean Dubuffet, André Breton, Paulhan, Jacques Prévert, Giacometti, Jean Cocteau, Aristide Caillaud and Benjamin Peret. With these artists he became actively involved in the reconstruction of the cultural life of Paris in the aftermath of the Second World War.

In 1950 he traveled for five years in South America, extending his reputation internationally, He discovered Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay , Chile and Tierra del Fuego and becomes immersed in the culture of the indiginous South American peplke.

He returned to France in 1955, he moved to Vence, working in Laval and Paris. Tatin exhibited in Paris, especially at La Galerie de l’Université of Robert Steindecker, who became his patron. In 1969 André Malraux, Minister of Culture, bestowed the title of "museum" in this architectural ensemble.

Robert Tatin died in 1983 and was buried in front of his house.

La Frénouse[edit]

In 1962, Robert Tatin and his wife Lisa purchased an old house at a place called The Frénouse, in the municipality of Cosse-le-Vivien in Mayenne. He imagines his "Maison des Champs," a monumental work rooted in nature, which would be the hub of all civilizations through the creation of a universal language, "a bridge between East and West."

This is the beginning of twenty-one years of creation, sculptural, architectural and pictorial, along with Lise actively involved in the construction of the museum.

La porte des Géants[edit]

The "Door of the Giants". This tall relief consists of five towering bearded characters which represent what Robert Tatin considered to be the five primary painters. The artists rendered on La Porte des Geants are Leonardo da Vinci, Goya, Delacroix, Rembrandt and Van Gogh.^[1]

The alley of giants[edit]

The entrance is through a path of about 80 meters, the artist lined with 19 statues depicting the discovery of the world and his artistic career. While the statues that line the path have been drawn in perspective, they are also representative of a period of the life of the artist.

Visitors upon their arrival, the statues of Joan of Arc and Vercingetorix and enter full force into the world of a 10 year old child who is acquainted with the history of France.

Being and Having verbs are the questions at the end of childhood.

Then follow Ste Anne and the Virgin of the Thorn, references to mysticism and metaphysics that prolong this period of adolescence with the three classic questions, where do we come from? What do we do? Where are we going?

The visitor's eye on the next statue, Master Mate, evokes the path taken by Robert Tatin: the builders of cathedrals and the quest for perfection.[3]

In 1967, Robert Tatin installs its first monumental sculpture, colored cement on the local road that leads to the "space of life and creation." He calls this alley 80 meters "The Alley of the Giants."

Each of the twenty giants, prepared for the sake of perspective, is representative of a time in his life.

Firstly, with the statues of "Joan of Arc" and "Vercingetorix", the visitor enters the world of a child 10 years getting to know the history of France.

Follow "St. Anne" and "The Virgin of the spine." Here reference is made to the mystical and metaphysical with three questions: Where did we come from? What do we do? Where are we going?

"The Master Companion" evokes the path taken by Robert Tatin: that of the cathedral builders, but also a certain initiation.

Finally Robert Tatin pays tribute to the art world of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with "André Breton", "Henri Rousseau", Paul Gauguin George Seurat, Auguste Rodin, Leonor Fini, Alfred Jarry, Ubu Roi, Toulouse Lautrec, Valadon-Utrillo, Pablo Picasso Jules Verne

The twentieth statue, "La Fleur", erected in 1967 in front of the Master Mate, having been damaged, was withdrawn in 1978 by Robert Tatin. Head, recovered by a friend of the artist, was returned to the museum in 2005. The "Garden of meditation."

This garden, like a cloister, is organized around a pool in the shape of a cross and surrounded the twelve months of the year. The course is oriented in the direction of rotation of the earth.

Robert Tatin Museum is built around a very old house, the starting point of the work.

This place called "the Frênouse" was chosen by Robert Tatin in terms of its history, but also and especially for its East-West orientation.

Front of the house, in the garden, the tombstone under which rests the artist since 1983, according to his vow.

On the sides, showrooms can discover paintings and ceramics artist. The home of Robert Tatin.

Robert Tatin Museum is built around a very old house, the starting point of the work.

This place called "the Frênouse" was chosen by Robert Tatin in terms of its history, but also and especially for its East-West orientation.

Front of the house, in the garden, the tombstone under which rests the artist since 1983, according to his vow.

Flanking this, to east and west, are two monumental gateways, The Gateway of the Sun and the Moon. The former embodies the Taoist principles of Yin and Yang, the male and female principles which shape the world. On the tympanum between the two symbolic figures is a huge abstract sun whose rays split into hundreds of shapes with human features. Opposite the sun gate, reflected in the cross-shaped pool, stands the Gateway of the Moon, with its undulating roofline and almost Picasso-like bulls on the ridge. Above the arches a crouching goddess, the ‘muse of unity’, holds a boy and girl to her breasts. Her feet rest on geometric symbols of imagination and reason: the circle and the square.

The complex symbolism incorporated into Tatin’s museum drew on a lifetime of adventure and discovery. was influenced by itinerant circuses which passed through the area each summer. He admired the lively paintings on the roundabouts, the wooden horses, the trapeze acts and the clowns’ repertoire. Such playful images reappeared years later in some of his adult paintings.

As a student Tatin discovered the megalithic monuments of Brittany - recreated in Cossé-le-Vivien in the Notre-Dame-de-Tout-le-Monde totem – and served an apprenticeship as a house painter and decorator. At sixteen he moved to Paris, before heading off for Switzerland, Italy, New York, Ireland, England and North Africa.

After the Second World War he worked briefly as a ceramicist in Paris, where his work caught the attention of Jean Debuffet. In 1950, however, the footloose artist headed to south America to spend five years travelling in Chile, Argentina and Brazil, where he received first prize in the Sao Paulo’s first Biennale. After his return to France in the late fifties, he purchased the stone farmhouse La Frénouse which he began to transform into his chef d’œuvre in 1962.

Tatin conceived the Frénouse as a bridge between east and west, where the sculptural architecture combines the influences of different cultures including Aztec, Hindu and Celtic symbolism, Chinese philosophy and surrealism. By 1969, the celebrated novelist and French culture minister, André Malraux was so impressed by Tatin’s work in Cossé-le-Vivien that he designated the courtyard, its adjacent buildings and structures, a national museum.

symbolic work Tatin not only paid homage to artistic genius and diverse cultures, but also related the story of his life in the 80-metre-long "Avenue of Giants". Begins with statues of French national heroes like Gallic king Vercingetorix and Joan of Arc

Then come representations of the verbs to have and to be (Verbe être), followed by a bearded carpenter evoking the period of his life when he worked as a craftsmen. Finally, his major artistic influences and reference points – Henri Rousseau, André Breton, Gaugin, Picasso and Jules Verne among others – lead down to his concrete fortress and the culmination of his life’s work.

More than twenty years after Tatin’s death his monumental sculptures and buildings have changed little. In Mayenne’s damp climate, however, some of the painted sculptures are beginning to fade.

"Most sculptures were more brightly coloured than they appear today,” explained a conservationist, as he added pinky tinges to a pale female sculpture. “From photographs taken four or five years ago we know the dragon’s tongue was much darker red than it appears today. My job is to try and restore l’œuvre whilst respecting the artist’s original intentions."

With its ongoing restoration programme and revenue from ticket sales Tatin’s cosmic legacy seems assured. Despite its distance from main tourism areas the eclectic museum receives a regular stream of summer visitors, eager to enter the surreal universe of one of France’s lesser-known symbolists.

Opened in fall 2003, the Field Sculptures offers visitors to discover new works installed in the nature near the edge of the museum. Four works are currently in place, most donated by artists who exhibited in La Grange.

Garden of Meditations[edit]

[4] Dans cette partie à ciel ouvert, le visiteur se trouve dans une architecture intérieure qui s'organise autour d'un bassin bordé des douze mois de l'année et en forme de croix, tel un patio ou un cloître. Le parcours s'oriente suivant le sens de rotation de la terre.

Dragon[edit]

To reach the courtyard of the museum, visitors have to pass through the mouth of a large dragon. The dragon has no demonic appearance that gives it in the West. It is the symbolic heart of the museum entrance, placed as a sentry, is the guardian of knowledge. He wears a family symbolizing humanity it protects.[5]

Musee[edit]

[6] In 1962, Robert Tatin purchased an old house in a place called The Frénouse in the municipality of Cosse-le-Vivien in Mayenne. "Maison des Champs," a monumental work rooted in nature, which would be the hub of all civilizations through the creation of a universal language, "a bridge between East and West." Soon, the first sculptures of reinforced concrete painted appear in what he called "The Garden of Meditation" at the heart of the museum. In 1967, the town road that leads to the living space and creation is seen with the first of 20 "Giants" that border today. This is the beginning of twenty-one years of creation, sculptural, architectural and pictorial, along with Lise actively involved in the construction of the museum. After his death in 1983. Since that date, this work has remained the same, except for continuing restoration.

The nineteen statues (the twentieth "Flower" was damaged and removed by Robert Tatin in 1978) accompanying the visitors opened the perspective to the heart of the museum. These first giant colored cement are significant milestones in the life of Tatin.

The centre of the museum is surrounded by high decorated with bas-reliefs telling of myths and legends founders of the great civilizations of East and West in order to evoke the dreamlike, symbolic epic that binds all men.

"The Dragon", forced to pass the visitor is balanced on a sphere and a cube. His head is crowned with a family with enigmatic poses (that remind us of our eternal quest to understand the world and the mysteries of life).

Robert Tatin lived the house during the twenty years of construction of the museum. Oriented east-west, the "Sun Gate" on the east and the "Gate of the Moon" at sunset. The last frame a central basin-shaped cross which emerges 6 m high statue "Notre Dame All-the-World", which rises to the stars as the promise of a cosmos within reach heaven. We are in the Garden of Meditation. Small carved figures around the pelvis are human activities and major events of the nature of each month of the year. The visitor is invited to discover the patio observing the direction of rotation of the Earth.

This interior space inhabited by countless polychrome figures, totaled two staircases attractive once again look to the sky. Around the whole, an ambulatory leads us to discover the rooms in which Tatin himself willing ceramics, paintings, drawings, watercolors and writings showing us a small part of a life devoted to artistic creation.

Paintings[edit]

One hundred paintings of Robert Tatin are presented in the museum. The oldest paintings date from 1919. He then enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.

We know that Robert Tatin painted a large number of tables, but we do not know the exact number. Many paintings are owned by individuals.

In 1979, Robert Tatin decided to stop painting. He left his last unfinished work.[7]

Publications[edit]

Toi ma Celtie, Bief, no. 1, édition Le Terrain Vague, novembre 1958
Traces 40. Robert Tatin présente le Tatin de la Frénouse, l'oeuvrier. Suivi de : Vive la Rate !..., Michel-François Lavaur. Le Pallet. Vallet, 1972, numéro spécial préparé par Alain Barré
Magie en huit exemplaires, collection du musée Tatin
Etrange musée, Robert Tatin en Frénouse à Cossé-le-Vivien, Mayenne. Librairie Charpentier 1977. Préface de Otto Hahn. (Librairie Charpentier, Paris 1977)
Lettre à André Breton (La Brèche Action Surréaliste no. 4, February 1983)

Bibliography[edit]

Robert Tatin. Paris, Librairie Charpentier, 1960. de Pierre Gueguen, et Henry Galy-Carles
Catalogue de l’exposition Robert Tatin de mai à juin 1968, à la Galerie de l’Université à Paris
Étrange musée, Robert Tatin en Frénouse à Cossé-le-Vivien, Mayenne. Librairie Charpentier 1977. Écriture par Robert Tatin. Preface de Otto Hahn
L'étrange domaine de Robert Tatin. Simoën, 1977. Richard Jeandelle et Brigitte Jeandelle
L'univers de Robert Tatin. Groupe Célestin Freinet. 1983

Filmography[edit]

Cinq films ont été tournés sur Robert Tatin :

De l'autre côté du miroir, film réalisé pour l'émission de télévision Terre des Arts par Max-Pol Fouchet en juin 1967 sur Magritte, Paul Delvaux, Aristide Caillaud et Robert Tatin
Un film de Jac Remise pour l'ORTF (janvier 1972)
Un film-actualités pour Fox-Moviétone (août 1974)
Un film de Claus Hermans pour la télévision allemande (juillet 1976)
"Tatin-Circus" de Robert Maurice et Claude Arrucci, pour FR3 Rennes (février 1977)

References[edit]

^ "Musee Robert Tatin: La porte des geants".