Sculpture and Landscaping.

Today, Monday, we went into Mont de Marsan to see the exhibition of sculptures and landscaping which is set in the old part of town around the dungeon by the river. Mont de Marsan is known as the town of the 3 rivers as the rivers Douze and Midou join in the town centre to form the river Midouze. Two famous sculptors of the early 20th century, Robert Wlerik and Charles Despiau were born in Mont-de Marsan. Despiau went to Paris and became a student of Rodin. Wlerik too eventually went to Paris and they were co-founders of the Salon des Tuileries. We first had a look around the museum which is in the dungeon and which has a permanent exhibition of their sculptures. The rest of the sculptures were outside and the grounds had been beautifully landscaped. Three students from the school of architecture and landscaping in Bordeaux have created a large area of stone and tiles and raised borders of scented herbs. This area contains many statutes inculding a huge one of an athlete with a javelin and one of Hercules. In the museum garden there is a design of the Davidson tartan constructed of many small coloured grasses. Apparently the designer, Anthony Freestone, looked in the local phone book and found a family named Davidson and this was the inspiration for this work. In the gallery he has continued the tartan theme with a series of tartan paintings. The whole thing is completely bizarre!! The students of floristry have made papier mache figures decorated with flowers to signpost the way around the exhibition. The town also has many sculptures on permanent exhibition in the streets and squares as well as many floral decorations.