ABBÉ LECOUTRE

Rarely has the expression his church been so accurate, for this church is truly his work

WIRWIGNES CHURCH

A masterpiece of popular art
A pioneering building in the emergence of naive art in France in the last third of the 19th century

Paul Amédé Lecoutre

Worthy successor to the priest-builders of the Middle Ages
he spent 43 years of his life enlarging, embellishing and decorating his church

The church stands as a glorious monument to human perseverance and devotion to a higher cause
It was in this same spirit our great cathedrals were raised

Colores vitae maiores factae sunt, et vita ipsa maior facta est, quia in ecclesiam eius est

Among the priests who restored their churches, Paul Amédé Lecoutre (1830-1906) – Abbé Lecoutre – unquestionably has a special place. Rarely has the expression « his church » been so accurate, because the church of Saint-Quentin in Wirwignes in the Pas-de-Calais, which he spent 40 years of his life enlarging and decorating, is truly his work.
The church has been praised as « a masterpiece of popular art, » « a pioneering monument in the emergence of naive art in France in the last third of the nineteenth century, » etc. But however flattering they may be for Abbé Lecoutre’s art, these qualifiers are reductive and actually minimise its scope and substance. This is what this website sets out to demonstrate.
The presentation of his history, his work and his church is an introduction that precedes a closer (but not exhaustive) look at Abbé Lecoutre’s main works (all listed as historic monuments). The presentation is structured in three parts, in which we successively ask whether his art is conventional, popular, naive.