Le Manège (The Merry-go-round)Pierre Avezard (1909-1992)

Status

Extant

Address

Ruelle de l'Église, Dicy, Bourgogne, 89120, France

Built

begun 1937

Visiting Information

La Manège was removed from the original site and can now been seen at La Fabuloserie, an outsider art museum in Dicy, France. 

About the Artist/Site

Pierre Avezard, known as “Petit Pierre” because of his small stature, was born prematurely. He was deaf and partially blind. Even as a child he lived a rather isolated life. He had only two years of schooling and made his living as a cowherd in Fay aux Loges in the Loiret region of France.

Avezard became a keen observer of the animals, people, and machines that surrounded him on the farm, and used tin blades and other scrap materials to replicate their forms. In 1937 he began constructing an intricate large-scale merry-go-round, replete with sculpted animals, as well as bicyclists, trains, and planes, all made from scrap material. First he fabricated the pieces in the stable of the farmer for whom he worked, but in 1955, as Avezard’s work grew, his boss ceded him a bit of land with a small house. Avezard added a 75-foot-high wooden replica of the Eiffel Tower to the donated land, while continuing to work on the merry-go-round. By 1970, over 100 figures circled Le Manège. Powered by a small motor, the installation would produce sounds and project water as it moved, delighting visitors who arrived on Sunday afternoons to view the Manège in full swing. 

In 1974, “Petit Pierre” moved into a nursing home and his art environment lost its primary caretaker. In 1982, when plans were announced for a new highway that would go through the site, friends of Avezard’s work dismantled his creation so it would not be destroyed or vandalized, and reinstalled it at La Fabuloserie, an outsider art museum in Dicy, France, where the public can continue to enjoy La Manège.

~Henk van Es

 

 

 

Materials

recycled materials, tin, wood

Related Documents

Map & Site Information

Ruelle de l'Église
Dicy, Bourgogne, 89120 fr
Latitude/Longitude: 47.933725 / 3.10646

Nearby Environments

La Fabuloserie Museum

Dicy, Bourgogne Franche-Comté

Arbres de lumière (Trees of Light)

Brannay, Bourgogne Franche-Comté

La petite Afrique [Little Africa]

Pithiviers, Centre-Val de Loire

Le Cyclop [Cyclops]

Milly-la-Forêt, Île-de-France

La Cathédrale [The Cathedral]

Neuvy-Deux-Clochers, Centre

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