Casimir Serpantie 1855-1949 Painter & Sculptor from Campagnac

Casimir Serpantié (1855-1949) and "The Painter's House".

Campagnac is the homeland of the painter and sculptor Casimir Serpentié . After studied in Paris at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand where he was taught drawing by Léon Cogniet (1794-1880), he returned to settle in Campagnac and Saint-Geniez-d'Olt, his family's place of origin. He became friends with the painters Marcel Laporte (1839 1906), originally from Saint-Geniez who gave him advice, and Eugène Viala (1859-1913). After taking courses at the School of Decorative Arts in Paris , he presented his first paintings at the International Exhibition in Toulouse in 1887 , then at the Salon des Artistes Français and at the Exhibition in Nîmes in 1888. Member of the Society French Artists from 1892, he exhibited at the Salon in 1914, 1920, 1926 and 1929. He received a gold medal at the Rodez exhibition in 1892 , and a silver medal at that of Montpellier in 1896. In 1919, he won the Cabrol Prize from the Society of Letters, Sciences and Arts of Aveyron, of which he has been a member since 1888.

Also a stone and wood sculptor, he is the author of the tympanum of the church of Campagnac (1900). In 1920, he drew the plans for the war memorial and sculpted Christ. Casimir Serpantié lives in the family manor which he refurbishes at the beginning of the 20th century : he changes the destination of certain rooms, paints wall decorations in the style of Viollet-le-Duc, and sculpts fireplaces and neo-Renaissance style furniture. , transforming Le Manoir with the aim of preserving and highlighting its authenticity and character. He set up his workshop in a large room open to the sky through a glass roof. To better immerse himself in the landscapes and the effects of light, he had a small house built on the edge of the Lancise cliff , surrounded by nature, where he came to paint . Called " The Painter's House " by the inhabitants of Campagnac, it offers a magnificent panorama over the Lot valley and the foothills of Aubrac.

The painter of causse landscapes and peasant scenes

Casimir Serpantié paints in oil and watercolor the landscapes of the causses and the valleys that surround him. Scenes from the simple life of peasants and artisans. " Dressed in velvet or fur, wearing a large felt hat that embraces his clear eyes, with a slightly crazy beard and the eternal Pipe in his teeth, one meets him on the squares of Saint-Geniez or Campagnac, through the mountain fairs, calling each by name. Cordial, linking, the verb rather high and full of a good nature that he knows how to make pleasant. There is not a corner of his country that he has not excavated, attentive to the laughing beauty or the wildness of the sites, to which he returns, a painter in love with nature ” (B. Combres de Patris, 1919).
Beyond his talents as an artist, Casimir Serpantié is appreciated for his multifaceted personality . “ Very knowledgeable about agricultural questions, living in the middle of the peasant world whose needs, spirit and customs he knew, a distinguished beekeeper who had been the introducer of the life of bees to us, attentive to the problems of rural trade unionism, willingly involved in youth movements and the defense of our most healthy traditions. Casimir Serpantié was happily impassioned for our reborn felibrige, who salutes in him one of his masters. He possessed to a rare degree the genius of this Occitan language… ” (B. Combres de Patris, 1949).

Complete and endearing personality, Casimir Serpantié marked Campagnac and Rouergue.

-Texts of the Association " Living in Campagnac and its Hamlets "-

find out more about Campagnac and its region:
Campagnac Town Hall
Tourist Office of the Causses in Aubrac
Community of Communes of the Causses in Aubrac