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July 04, 2022

The Prophet by Louis Derbré has joined the waterfront

After the installation of XY, a sculpture by Philippe Valensi, a new work continues the artistic walk that will eventually lead from Les Planches to Les Franciscaines. It is the work entitled The Prophet, by Louis Derbré (1925-2011), sculptor of earth and bronze out of the ordinary. He made art in the city his artistic project. The foundation that highlights his work has signed a donation of two monumental works with the City of Deauville in 2021. On July 5, the first one, The Prophet, was installed in the garden of the lais de mer.

The Prophet, by Louis Derbré ©Lucas Thirion-Tournois
The Prophet, by Louis Derbré Lucas Thirion-Tournois

For its author, this monumental bronze of seven meters high, "is the realization of a childhood dream that has been close to my heart for over 55 years. It is unique in the world, by its size, but also by the meaning of its name, which translates a desire to announce a new era. It is the vision of a door that is always open to the infinite..

Le Guetteur ©Sandrine Boyer-Engel
The Watcher Sandrine Boyer-Engel
The second sculpture, The Watcher, is a resin sculpture of one meter forty high.
He is in a seated position, looking towards the horizon. The sculptor had also called him The Watcher.
It will be installed on the remains of a blockhouse located in front of the Villa Namouna in July, when its base will be completed.
My sculptures, they are what they are, but, we see that they bring hope, wherever they want to give it...
Louis Derbré

LOUIS DERBRE, SCULPTOR

Nothing destined Louis Derbré (1925-2011), son of farmers from Mayenne, to become an artist. As a laborer in a Parisian art publishing house, he almost by chance met students from the Beaux-Arts. Their dialogues made him want to express himself artistically. He learns the trade. His first success came in 1951 when he received the Prix Fénéon from Louis Aragon for the bust of a student. He then set up his first workshop. He became the assistant of the sculptor Emile Gilioli. In 1962, the Hervé Odermatt gallery in Paris revealed him to the public with the exhibition "Rodin, Maillol, Derbré". Many others will follow.
What marks the career of this artist is his desire to make art accessible to all and to develop a major concept for him: art in the city. He responds to multiple commissions he receives from municipalities in France and around the world and creates works that are more and more spiritual. Among his creations, we should mention "The Earth", a 9-meter high bronze statue installed in Ikebukuro Square in Tokyo in 1972. Or the realization of six monumental sculptures of five meters high for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (1997). In France, it will be among others, the great exhibition of the Vendôme place in 2000 composed of thirty-five sculptures. In Ernée, Mayenne, where he settled in 1991, he concretized his project in the most representative way. In addition to the cultural space that bears his name, several works animate the city.
Officer of Arts and Letters, he received the medal of Knight of the Order of Merit and in 1998, he was made Knight in the National Order of the Legion of Honor.
Since his death in 2011, the Fonds de Dotation Espace culturel Louis Derbré perpetuates his work in France and around the world with the ambition to make his works available to the greatest number of people.
The City of Deauville's project to create an artistic promenade to link the waterfront to the Franciscaines appealed to them.

AN ARTISTIC WALK FROM THE BOARDS TO Les Franciscaines

The project of an artistic promenade linking Les Planches to Les Franciscaines aims to create a natural flow towards the new place of life and culture of the city. The axis chosen to install this promenade is Raspail Street, which will have to be reconfigured to accommodate works of art and allow their observation. Lighting, signage, and the development of traffic lanes will soon be studied by a specialized firm that will be selected after a call for tenders.
The axis is strategic for the cultural equipment insofar as it crosses the parking lot of the lais de mer where the visitors of the Franciscaines are invited to park. About ten works should join this promenade.

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