James Bouillé (14 February 1894 – 22 June 1945) was a French architect based in
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
.
Biography
Bouillé was born in
Guingamp
Guingamp (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. With a population of 6,895 as of 2017, Guingamp is one of the smallest towns in Europe to have a top-tier professional football team: En Avant Gui ...
(
Côtes-d'Armor
The Côtes-d'Armor (, ; ; br, Aodoù-an-Arvor, ), formerly known as Côtes-du-Nord ( br, Aodoù-an-Hanternoz, link=no, ), are a department in the north of Brittany, in northwestern France. In 2019, it had a population of 600,582. ) He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, until he was mobilized after the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. After the war, he became a member of the Breton nationalist political movement ''
Breiz Atao''.
He was one of the founders in 1923 of the artistic movement
Seiz Breur, along with
Jeanne Malivel and
René-Yves Creston
René-Yves Creston (25 October 1898 – 30 May 1964), born René Pierre Joseph Creston, was a Breton artist, designer and ethnographer who founded the Breton nationalist art movement Seiz Breur. During World War II he was active in the French Res ...
. His aim was to revitalise Breton sacred art: crosses, votive objects and traditional crafts. He also designed and supported pottery, ceramics, embroidery and cabinetmaking. Between 1924 and 1935, he was an architect in Perros-Guirec, where he developed a successful practice building holiday villas.
In 1929 he joined with
Xavier de Langlais
Xavier de Langlais (April 26, 1906 in Sarzeau – June 15, 1975) was a Breton painter, printmaker and writer. He usually signed his work with the name Langleiz, a Breton language version of his surname.
Early career
Langlais studied art in Na ...
to found ''An Droellen'', a workshop of Breton Christian art. The duo worked closely together on a number of projects, including the college chapel of St. Joseph in
Lannion
Lannion ( ; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of Côtes-d'Armor, the capital of Trégor and the center of an urban area of almost 60,000 inhabitants.
Climate
Lannion ha ...
. The workshop included among its members Mlle Ménard (glazier), Madame Planiol (restoration of priestly vestments) and
Jules-Charles Le Bozec
Jules-Charles Le Bozec (1898–1973) was a French sculptor, whose work reflects a commitment to the local design traditions of his native province of Brittany.
Biography
Le Bozec was born in Saint-Mayeux, Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany. He was appren ...
(sculptor).
In the late 1930s Bouillé created the Chapel of Koat-Keo in
Scrignac (
Finistère
Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090. ), built at the initiative of his friend Abbot
Jean-Marie Perrot The abbé Jean-Marie Perrot, in Breton Yann Vari Perrot (3 September 1877 in Plouarzel, Finistère – 12 December 1943 in Scrignac), was a Breton priest, Breton independentist assassinated by the Communist resistance. He was the founder of ...
, founder of the Breton Catholic youth organization
Bleun-Brug, which promoted traditional Breton culture. The chapel is seen as a significant attempt to create a distinctive modern Breton sacred architecture, and was listed as a historical monument in 1997.
During the World War II, Perrot and Breun-Blug were suspected of
collaborationist activity. In 1941, Bouillé was made director of Bleun-Brug and sat on the Advisory Committee of Brittany, as its representative. The Committee was seen by resistance activists as part of the collaborationist régime. At this time he advocated a radical plan to build a new Breton capital city to be called "Brittia", which would be a "Celtic Brasilia" on the shores of
Lake Guerlédan. Due to his association with Perrot and the committee, he was interned after the
Liberation of France
The liberation of France in the Second World War was accomplished through diplomacy, politics and the combined military efforts of the Allied Powers, Free French forces in London and Africa, as well as the French Resistance.
Nazi Germany inv ...
. He died in 1945, as a result of his internment.
In Brittany, at least nine streets bear his name.
[''Les Noms qui ont fait l'histoire de Bretagne'', Coop Breizh et Institut culturel de Bretagne, 1997]
Major buildings
*1933: holiday home, known as Kelenn, 18 chemin de Quo-Vadis, subdivision of Tourony-plage at Tégastel
*1936-1937: Chapelle de l'Institution Saint-Joseph (in fact Saint-Joseph college) in Lannion
*1937: Chapel Koat-Keo at
Scrignac, created for the Abbot Perrot, with sculptures by Jules-Charles Le Bozec. (This building was designated as a
Monument historique in 1997).
*1938: Extension to the chapelle de Ploumanac'h, commune de Perros-Guirec 1938
*1939: maison de villégiature (holiday home), known as Avel Dro, 2 rue du Belvédère à Trestrignel, commune de Perros-Guirec.
Publications
* ''Sketla Segobrani. 3 levr moulet e ti'' René Prud'homme.
Saint-Brieuc, (1923), 3 volumes (with
François Vallée,
Meven Mordiern
Meven Mordiern, the pen name of René Le Roux (29 October 1878 – 4 February 1949), was a Breton writer of French origin, and a specialist on the ancient Celtic culture. He was the main collaborator of the lexicographer François Vallée, wh ...
,
Émile Ernault)
* ''Sketla segobrani kenta nevrenn: dis atir, teutatis''. Prud'homme - Saint-Brieuc (1923).
* ''Sketla segobrani eil kevrenn: trede levr: lugus''. Prud'homme - Saint-Brieuc (1923).
* '. Buhez Breiz - Quimper (1924). Paper delivered at the congress of Bleun Brug at
Lesneven
Lesneven (; br, Lesneven) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.
It lies northeast of Brest, about from the English Channel in the middle of the Leon plateau.
History
Lesneven has its origins in the i ...
l12 September 1923.
* ''L'art en Bretagne''. Éditions de Buhez Breiz (1924). Paper delivered at the Panceltic Congress,
Quimper
Quimper (, ; br, Kemper ; la, Civitas Aquilonia or ) is a commune and prefecture of the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.
Administration
Quimper is the prefecture (capital) of the Finistère department.
Geography
Th ...
, 9 September 1924.
* ''Sketla segobrani pevare
redekevrenn: tanaris, esus''. Prud'homme - Saint-Brieuc (1925).
* ''Habitation bretonne''. Massin Ch. et Cie - Paris (1926). The Regional Art of France
* ''L'architecture bretonne moderne''. Éditions Romanance - Paris (1936).
References
Bibliography
''Audaces et hésitations d'un militant: James Bouillé'', Pierre Mardaga - Liege. 1986.
Catalogue of the exhibition: ''Modernité et régionalisme: Bretagne : 1918 - 1945''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouille, James
1894 births
1945 deaths
People from Guingamp
Breton nationalists
20th-century French architects
French collaborators with Nazi Germany