Henri Salingardes

A former hairdresser and part-time antiques dealer, Salingardes was an inn-keeper in southern France who started to fashion medallions and other decorative objects in the open-air studio in his garden. The strange cement reliefs often featured cartoonish figures, alongside animals, birds and crustaceans, and were hung as decoration inside and outside his modest hotel. Salingardes' medals became some of the earliest works to enter the art brut collection.