Marcel Bascoulard in Bourges, Cher (18)

I've written about Marcel Bascoulard (1913-78) before, after I read the huge beau livre about him, telling of how his mother shot his tyrannical father dead from the back, of how Bascoulard (in his late teens at the time) went on to lead the existence of a down-and-out. He was, though, a much loved figure in Bourges, noted for riding an elongated tricycle, wearing women's clothing, having a number of cats, but most of all of course for his artwork. He did few abstract paintings, but most of his art was meticulously sketched works of Bourges cathedral, or of the town's old streets. It was a great shock to the town to  learn that he was strangled by an unstable man in his twenties in a wreck of a van someone had given Bascoulard, and in which he lived on wasteland. But he received the posthumous honour of having a square named after him, with in the centre a bust of him by the sculptor André Bézard (1921-98): a tall stone with a representation of the man in a bronze bust.

He also received a decent grave, although I suspect that not many people have seen where Marcel Bascoulard is buried: online it's possible to find the exact location of it, although none of the cemetery divisions is marked, and if you visit (as we did) when the gardien is having his lunchtime break, the chances of finding him are remote. However, I spoke to a man watering the graves and he knew exactly where Bascoulard's is: there are now two pot cats on it.