• Château, Historic Grounds and Stables
    • The Château
      • The historical apartments
      • The private apartments
      • A brief history
      • Chaumont and its owners
    • The Historic Grounds
    • The Stables
      • The horse-drawn vehicles
      • The great stable
  • Centre for Arts and Nature
    • Special commission from the Region
      • Special commission - Archives
    • Archives
      • 2020 Art season
      • Chaumont-Photo-sur-Loire
      • 2019 Art season
      • Chaumont-Photo-sur-Loire 2018-2019
      • 2018 Art season
      • Chaumont-Photo-sur-Loire 2017-2018
      • 2016-2017 Season: Trees in Winter
      • 2016 Art season
      • 2015 Art season
      • 2014 Art season
      • 2013 art season
      • 2012 art season
      • 2011 art season
      • 2010 Art season
      • 2009 art season
      • Art season 2008
  • International Garden Festival
    • Archives
      • 2020 edition
  • Cultural programme and events
  • News
  • Press review
  • Contact
  • Practical information
  • Boutiques
  • Restaurants
    • Le Café des Savoirs et des Saveurs
    • Le Comptoir des Tilleuls
    • L'Estaminet
  • Boutique en ligne
  • News
  • Practical information
  • Contact
  • Regional Domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire
  • Partners
  • Legal notices
  • Espace Presse / Press
    • 2020 - Dossiers de presse / Press Pack
    • 2020 - Visuels / Visuals
    • Archives
      • 2019 - Dossiers de presse / Press Pack
      • 2019 - Visuels / Visuals
      • 2018 - Dossiers de presse / Press Pack
      • 2018 - Visuels / Visuals
      • 2017 - Dossiers de presse / Press Pack
      • 2017 - Visuels / Visuals
      • 2016 - Dossiers de presse / Press Pack
      • 2016 - Visuels / Visuals
      • 2015 - Dossiers de presse / Press Pack
      • 2015 - Visuels / Visuals
      • 2014 - Dossiers de presse / Press Pack
      • 2014 - Visuels / Visuals
      • 2013 - Dossiers de presse / Press Pack
      • 2013 - Visuels / Visuals
      • 2012 - Dossiers de presse / Press Pack
      • 2012 - Visuels / Visuals
      • 2011 - Dossiers de presse / Press Pack
      • 2011 - Visuels / Visuals
      • 2010 - Dossiers de presse / Press Pack
      • 2010 - Visuels / Visuals
      • 2009 - Dossiers de presse / Press Pack
      • 2009 - Visuels / Visuals
      • 2008 - Dossiers de presse / Press Pack
      • 2008 - Visuels / Visuals
  • Groups and Tourism Professionals
    • Tourism professionals
    • Contact the sales department
Ticketing
Château, Historic Grounds and Stables Centre for Arts and Nature International Garden Festival Cultural programme and events
Select language en
  • Français
  • English
  • Deutsch
  • Italiano
  • Español
  • Nederlands
  • 日本語
  • 简体中文
  • Portuguese
  • Русский
Boutique en ligne News Practical information Contact
Special commission from the Region Archives
  • Centre for Arts and Nature
  • Archives
2009 art season
Historic Grounds

07. François Méchain

"L’Arbre aux Échelles"

published at 13/02/2017
L'arbre aux échelles, installation de François Méchain pour le Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, 2009 - © Éric Sander

In the Historic Grounds, François Méchain rolls out a multitude of ladders on one single tree. Hanging a few metres above the ground, they swing gently in the wind and, with the tree, form a living structure that evolves with the passing seasons.

A reference to the novel by Italo Calvino, The Baron in the Trees, whose hero took refuge amongst the trees to escape from the stresses of everyday life, L’Arbre aux Échelles (The Tree with Ladders) by François Méchain is a poetic invitation to look at the world from another point of view, from further away, from higher up.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

François MÉCHAIN
FRANCE

François Méchain is a sculptor and photographer, who was born in 1948 in Varaize, Charente.
After studying at the National Fine Arts Institute in Bourges, he taught photography at the Fine Arts Institute in Saint-Etienne.
François Méchain works right at the heart of nature in the tradition of land art. He creates ephemeral sculptures in situ by continuing to be attentive to the history of the place, to the photographic viewpoint, to the interpretation of the installation and to what it will become. Through his lens he fixes the moments in time of his landscape sculptures, which are born of his passion for things to do with the land he travels through, criss-crosses and examines during his many journeys.
“My work is a core sample taken from the depths of the world. The difficulty of my work really involves getting the right distance. Remember that my sculptures are also made for my camera’s viewfinder, so that it can see them. I’ve always wanted to cloud the issues. People have never known how to classify me: photographer, sculptor, sculptor for photography, photographer using his laboratory to remodel light as he would do with earth, I like this area of uncertainty”. Extract from the collected work “François Méchain, l’Exercice des choses” 2002.
He died in February 2019.

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Artothèque d’Amiens, France
Artothèque of Angers, France
Artothèque of Annecy, France
Bühl Foundation, New-York, USA
Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, Paris, France
Centre d’Art du Crestet, Vaison la Romaine, France
Chasanoff Collection, Fine Arts Museum, Houston, USA
City of Niort, France
Collection Centro de Arte y Naturaleza « Fundación Beulas », Huesca, Spain
Collection Centro de Artes Visuais, Encontros de Fotografia, Coimbra, Portugal
Collection du Centro Galego de Artes da Imaxe, St Jacques de Compostela, Spain
Collection EDF, Centrale de Civaux, France
Collection Nei Liicht / City of Dudelange, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
European House of Photography, Paris, France
Fine Art Museum and Lace, Calais, France
L’Imagerie, Lannion, France
La Casa de la Imagen, Logroño, Spain
Museet for Fotokunst and Cotemporary Art, Kunsthallen Brandts Klaedefabrik, Odense, Denmark
Museum of Photography and Contemporary Art, Charleroi, Belgium
National Fund for Contemporary Art, Paris, France
National Museum of Modern Art, Paris, France
Regional Fund for Contemporary Art Pays de Loire, France
Regional Fund for Contemporary Art Poitou-Charentes, France
Spectrum-Sotos Gallery, Zaragoza, Spain

View on the map
L'arbre aux échelles, installation de François Méchain pour le Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, 2009 - © Stéphane Franzese
L'arbre aux échelles, installation de François Méchain pour le Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, 2009 - © Stéphane Franzese
L'arbre aux échelles, installation de François Méchain pour le Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, 2009 - © Éric Sander
Espace Presse / Press
Groups and Tourism Professionals
News Press review Contact Practical information Boutiques Restaurants Ticketing

Newsletter

Regional Domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire Partners Legal notices

The Domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire

Aquired by the Centre-Val de Loire Region in 2007, The Domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire has become an unmissable site within the spheres of art and gardens. The triple identity of the Domaine : Heritage, art and gardens make for a unique visit within the circuit of the Loire Valley castles

Read more
Regional Domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire
41150 Chaumont-sur-Loire
Tel :+33 (0) 2 54 20 99 22
Fax :+33 (0) 2 54 20 99 24
Logo région centre Logo Val de Loire - Unesco Logo DRAC Logo arbre remarquable Logo jardin remarquable Logo Qualité tourisme