Coubertin Foundation

The de Coubertin Foundation is a French foundation that aims to perfect the professional, intellectual and cultural training of young people from manual trades and to transmit a number of values to them: concern for perfection and quality of work, sense of honesty and responsibility.

The meeting of the two founders
The Foundation was born from the meeting in 1949 of two personalities:


 * Yvonne de Coubertin (1893–1974), the last descendant of this name with her sister Marie-Marcelle (she is the niece of Pierre de Coubertin, re-creator of the Olympic Games), owner of the estate whose grandfather Bonnaventure Julien Frédy de Coubertin was mayor of Saint-JeanRémy-lès-Chevreuse and Father Paul Frédy de Coubertin, literary author;
 * Jean Bernard, artist and renovator of the Companionship of Duty of the Tour of France, only child of sculptor Joseph Bernard.

In 1950 they created an association for the development of rural companionship. This association became in 1973 the Fondation de Coubertin, and gained tax-exempt charity status.

Description
The de Coubertin estate (80 hectares) is located in the valley of Chevreuse in Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, in the French countryside.

The entrance to the estate opens onto a majestic linden driveway leading to the palace gate. Behind the gate, a French driveway leads to a castle of the late seventeenth century, with a sober facade. To the right of the castle, below, is the garden of bronzes and behind the castle, an English park. The castle is listed as a historical monument by decree of 7 September 1945.

Mission
The purpose of the Coubertin Foundation is to perfect the professional, intellectual and cultural training of young people from manual trades and to transmit a number of values to them: concern for perfection and quality of work, sense of honesty and responsibility. Each year, the institution receives about thirty young people, belonging to the trades of carpenter, cabinetmaker, metalworker, bricklayer, stonemason, plasterer and coppersmith, mostly from the Workers' Association of Companions of Duty and Tour of France.

Professional training is provided in master's workshops, known as:


 * The Saint-Jacques workshops, for metalwork, carpentry and stone-cutting; the Saint-Jacques workshops carried out the complete reconstruction of the royal gate at the Versailles palace as it existed before 1771;
 * Foundry of Coubertin, for metalwork and cast art; in 2008, the foundry realized the Flame of Liberty of Jean Cardot, realized for the Embassy of the United States in Paris and inaugurated in the presence of the United States and French presidents.

The collections of the Coubertin Foundation
The collections of the Foundation of Coubertin are located in the palace of the estate. The Foundation received from its second president, Jean Bernard, a donation of 21 sculptures and 1,500 drawings by his father, the sculptor Joseph Bernard.

In 1994, the workshop funds of sculptor René Collamarini (1904–1983) were added to the collections.

The Foundation has a set of sculptures ranging from the end of the 19th century to the 20th century (116 pieces): Robert Wlérick, Pablo Gargallo, Carlo Sarrabezolles, Jean Chauvin, Étienne Hajdu, Marta Pan, Jean Cardot as well as an important choice of sculptor drawings. The Foundation also benefits from deposits of sculptures (about sixty), including an important deposit of the Bourdelle museum and pieces by Étienne Martin, Marta Pan, Parvine Curie, Karel, Dominique Labauvie, John Kelly.

Around this collection, the architect Robert Auzelle has set up an open-air sculpture museum, the Jardin des Bronzes.

In 2002, the collections of the Coubertin Foundation were awarded the label of "Musée de France".

Major exhibitions from 1986 to 2012

 * 1986: sculptures du xxe siècle;
 * 1987: bronzes d’automne, de Rodin à Zadkine;
 * 1988: la sculpture en taille directe en France, de 1900 à 1950;
 * 1989: pierres et marbres de Joseph Bernard;
 * 1990: Aux grands hommes, David d’Angers;
 * 1991: genèse d’une sculpture, le monument à Michel Servet, de Joseph Bernard;
 * 1992: Jean Chauvin;
 * 1993: Étienne Hajdu;
 * 1996: Étienne Martin;
 * 1998: Gilioli;
 * 1999: course of sculpture in Île-de-France (selection from the collection of the Regional Contemporary Art Fund (FRAC) of Île-de-France);
 * 2000ː Marta Pan;
 * 2001: Jean Cardot;
 * 2002: Eugène Dodeigne;
 * 2005: Nicolas Alquin;
 * 2007: forty drawings by Joseph Bernard (exhibition at the Orangerie of Madame Élisabeth in Versailles);
 * 2008: Jean Bernard, artist and companion of duty, on the centenary of his birth;
 * 2009: sculptures by Antoine Poncet (poetic resonances with Jean Arp and Philippe Jaccottet);
 * 2010: sculptures by Ousmane Sow (May 8 to July 11);
 * 2011: a look at Rodin's photographs, videos, installations by Jean-Yves Cousseau (from May 7 to July 10, 2011);
 * 2012: sculptures by Denis Monfleur (from May 5 to July 22, 2012).