Quesnel-Morinière Museum (Musée Quesnel-Morinière)

The artistic movement "Le Pou qui Grimpe" (The Climbing Flea) was founded in 1915 by three young artists who organized charity festivals and galas to entertain wounded soldiers during WWI. When Coutances became a vast military hospital, these artists transformed the town into an unexpected center of avant-garde culture. A street in Coutances is still named "rue du Pou-qui-grimpe" in their honor.

Dr. Stephen Chauvet, who assembled the ceramics collection, was actually a renowned specialist in African and Oceanic art, not Norman pottery. His diverse ethnological interests led him to document traditional Cotentin crafts, resulting in his authoritative book "La céramique bas-normande ancienne" (Ancient Lower Norman Ceramics).

The three Cotentin pottery centers represented in the collection — Vindefontaine, Sauxemesnil, and Néhou — have all ceased production. Vindefontaine closed after an 1894 fire, Sauxemesnil in 1922, and Néhou later in the 20th century. This makes the museum's collection an irreplaceable record of a craft tradition dating back to the 12th century.