Renè Revellotti

Born into a family of Italian stonemasons in 1941 who came to France early in the last century, Renè Rovellotti began carving stone for his father while still at school. Rather than study full time, he became a railwayman, working largely at night, and attended classes at the Beaux Arts in both Aix en provence and Nimes.

When he was 30 Renè was appointed stationmaster at Grans, about 5 miles from his home town of St Chamas. As he was in charge and there were practically no passengers, he was able to open up a sculpture studio in a disused goods store on the spot, and combine his two vocations until the station was finally closed.

The choice of bronze for him is an emotional experience designed to give the spectator a powerful jolt, and he expresses this almost entirely through the human body - liberty, love, striving, grace, and music and so on - with from time to time a relatively playful excursion into other animals.
He has developed his own casting methods, where he can if necessary work alone rather than in the traditional team of three, and is slightly embarrassed by the authority that this has given him when advising much larger firms. Once casting is finished his studio becomes a hive of activity, usually with a flock of young people helping to finish the pieces, and apply the wide variety of patinas which are so important to his art.

One of his passions is bullfighting, and this has opened the doors of collectors throughout the south, particularly in Bordeaux. Renè has great almost childlike charm, and loves the mixture of creativity and manual labour. When not working on a bronze it's quite likely that you will find him building a stone wall or restoring the old mill in which he was born.