Armand Le Trionnaire, Known As "the Patient Of Saint-avé" (1912-1996) - Sculpture

An unusual sculpture by this artist, who can be linked to "Outsider Art." In very good condition, with a slight chip on one corner of the base, on the back. Good dimensions: 40 cm high x 14 cm wide x 10 cm deep.

Name: The Patient of Saint-Avé. Biography: Born in 1912 in Plaudren, Morbihan, he learned the trade of cabinetmaker, a profession he practiced until his psychological breakdown. He married and became the father of two children. Following his wife's death, he was committed in 1950 to the psychiatric hospital of Saint-Avé, near Vannes. He then began sculpting numerous objects: scythes, walking sticks, statuettes of Bretons, etc. Other sculptures, created on commission, are much less well-known and rarer.
The institution provided him with a lean-to which served as his workshop, but also as a "shop." He worked with tools rudimentary tools, mainly a grafting knife. A farmer from the village supplied him with the wood he worked with (primarily birch). He began selling his sculptures to the hospital staff, as well as to visitors coming to see the patients. With his small earnings, he bought cigarettes and "survived" as best he could... In the mid-1960s, scythes and walking sticks ("Pen Baz": club, mace) could be seen on display in the "La Vigie" restaurant in Port-Blanc. A testimony describes him: "He was a handsome, helpful man. He spoke well! He worked a lot on commission, from morning till night. A scythe took him 15 to 30 days to make."

This "little business" generated jealousy within the institution, and the hospital director at the time had to put a stop to the sales. In 1989, he left the psychiatric hospital for a retirement home where he died a few months later. (Based on research conducted by The Armor Enchères auction house - Auctioneers JUILLAN J.-M. and BOREL T. for the Prestige sale on Saturday, July 28, 2018 in PERROS-GUIREC)"