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In Buxy, in the heart of Burgundy's wine country, Maison Millebuis pays tribute to the sculptor Ivan Avoscan (1928–2012) by inaugurating a permanent art trail entitled “A Life of Sculpture.” More than 50 sculptures are displayed throughout the Maison Millebuis and at emblematic locations throughout the village. This project creates a dialogue between Avoscan's work and the stone, the vines, the light, and the local heritage.

Guided tours: by reservation at accueil@vigneronsdebuxy.fr

Ivan Avoscan was born in Buxy in 1928. Trained as a stonemason, he became an ornamentalist before attending the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, where he won the Prix de Paris in 1950. He worked at Père Lachaise Cemetery, attended the École Boulle, and taught in Lyon. Refusing the compromises of the art market, he settled in Burgundy in the 1960s, in the outbuildings of a château in Balleure. There, in a fruitful isolation, he sculpted the Buxy stone with rigor and passion, creating powerful, abstract, and meditative works.

Inspired by Constantin Brancusi, Germaine Richier, Antoine Bourdelle, or Alberto Giacometti, he is part of a free, spiritual, mineral lineage.

The route unfolds between the buildings of Maison Millebuis (courtyard, terrace, vat room, wine library), the old cellar, the quay of the old cellar and some emblematic places in the village of Buxy such as the tourist office, the town hall, the Saint-Germain church, the starred restaurant L’Empreinte…

Each artwork is accompanied by an educational label. The visitor is invited to a contemplative stroll, in a kind of open-air museum where art and landscape interact.

Avoscan's work can be divided into two main periods:

• An initial period (1950s-1970s) where he explored an organic abstraction, with free, primitive forms, close to metamorphosis, “capturing the mysterious currents of the soil of Burgundy”.
• A second period (1980s-2000s) where abstraction takes shape: geometry, verticality, monumentality, Ivan Avoscan becomes a sculptor/builder.

Recurring themes: The Gate, the Source, the Stairs, the Stars, the Totem, the Sphere. Stone is at once matter, memory, and breath. The forms are full, vibrant, austere, silent.

He works exclusively in direct carving, with spiritual rigor. Space, light, and emptiness are as important as mass.

“I mentally transport my sculptures to Cluny. If they withstand the ruins, they are ready.”

Ivan Avoscan

– Ionel Jianou : “Dresser vers le ciel son propre chant du monde”
– René Deroudille : “L’enchantement s’est accompli… la pierre a livré ses secrets”
– Entretien France Culture (1989)
– Archives personnelles de l’artiste – disponibles via l’association “Ivan Avoscan Buxy Terre de Sculpteurs”