Cinema in Saint-André-de-Cruzières, Ardèche (07)

The tiny village of Saint-André-de-Cruzières (population 466 in 2016) in the Ardèche (but quite close to Gard) has a cinema, which here announces old classics such as Gérard Oury's La Grande Vadrouille (1966), Claude Autant-Lara's La Traversée de Paris (1956), and Jacques Tati's Mon oncle (1958). A mural with a silhouette of Charlie Chaplin in front of a box office adorns the doors.

Alphonse Gurlhie, Maisonneuve (07)

Self-taught artist Alphonse Gurlhie (1862-1944) was born in Chandolas near Maisonneuve. An orphan at six, he learned to look after himself and was a very unusual character. He learned the world of nature around him, the calcareous scrubland of the bois de Païolive. He began sculpture at the age of sixty-one, and continued for twenty years. He had houses in Beauchastel and Maisonneuve, where he executed about thirty mainly animal sculptures around them. He has been called a precursor of art brut, or outsider art. Gurlhie mainly worked with reinforced concrete for the bulk of the object and metal for smaller details such as teeth, fins, feathers, etc. Marbles were used for eyes. Nature, wildlife in general, was his inspiration, although he also included a portrait of himself with medals for bravery on his chest and his hat. An interpretation panel notes that he never took himself seriously, and his inventions were bizarre: for example, he installed a 'Suez Canal' to enable him to urinate without leaving his bed. Many of his works have been preserved in the 'Jardin de Gurhlie' here. His grave was designed by Gurlhie, inspired apparently by the dolmens in the area, although I failed to find a cemetery in Maisonneuve as mentioned on one of the interpretation panels: could that be the cemetery in Chandolas? Life, unfortunately, is too short, and at 40 degrees it threatens to get much shorter, so I abandoned the idea of trying to find it: I saw not a single person in Maisonneuve, but then trying to find anyone between 12:00 and 15:00 hours in a hamlet in the Ardèche is virtually impossible. I included a photo from the information plaque onsite and hope no one chases me with a copyright hammer. The wonder of Gurlhie has been preserved at the junction of the road into Maisonneuve and into Chandolas:

And on the way out of Maisonneuve, I spotted several marbled white butterflies: in French demi-deuil (half-mourning, which makes sense) or échiquier commun (common chessboard):

Art brut (Outsider Art) and associated:
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Rémy Callot, Carvin (Nord)
Carine Fol (ed.): L'Art brut en question | Outsider Art in Question
Kevin Duffy, Ashton-in-Makerfield
The Art Brut of Léopold Truc, Cabrières d'Avignon (34)
Le Musée Extraordinaire de Georges Mazoyer, Ansouis (34)
Le Facteur Cheval's Palais Idéal, Hauterives (26)
The Little Chapel, Guernsey
Museum of Appalachia, Norris, Clinton, Tennessee
Ed Leedskalnin in Homestead, Florida
La Fabuloserie, Dicy, Yonne (89)
Street Art City, Lurcy-Lévis, Allier (03)
The Outsider Art of Jean Linard, Neuvy-deux-Clochers (18)
La Fabuloserie, Dicy, Yonne (89)
Jean Bertholle, La Fabuloserie, Yonne (89)
Jean-Pierre Schetz, La Fabuloserie, Yonne (89)
Jules Damloup, La Fabuloserie, Yonne (89)
Camille Vidal, La Fabuloserie, Yonne (89)
Pascal Verbena, La Fabuloserie, Yonne (89)
The Art of Theodore Major
Edward Gorey's Yarmouth Port, Cape Cod, MA
Marcel Vinsard in Pontcharra, Isère (38)
Vincent Capt: Écrivainer : La langue morcelée de Samuel Daiber
The Amazing World of Danielle Jacqui, Roquevaire (13)
Alphonse Gurlie, Maisonneuve (07)
Univers du poète ferrailleur, Lizio, Morbihan
Les Rochers sculptés de L'Abbé Fouré, Rothéneuf, Saint-Malo
Robert Tatin in Cossé-le-Vivien, Mayenne
René Raoul's Jardin de pierre in Pléhédel, Côtes d'Armor
La Demeure du Chaos, Saint-Romain-au-Mont-d'Or, Rhône (69)
Emmanuel Arredondo in Varennes Vauzelles, Nièvre (58)
Musée de la Luna Rossa (revisited), Caen, Calvados (14)
La Fontaine de Château-Chinon, Nièvre (58)

Johnny Hallyday in Viviers, Ardèche (07)

At the weekend Viviers, a village of about 4000 people in the Ardèche, filled with thousands of fans of Johnny Hallyday (1943–2017) to see the unveiling of his statue, created by Daniel Georges, at the southern entrance to the village by the restaurant Le Tennissee: 'Quelque chose de Tennissee' is one of Johnny's most famous works, although it is not about the American state but the writer Tennissee Williams. The work was paid for by Johnny's fans. Last Friday would have been Johnny's seventy-fifth birthday.

Johnny Hallyday's mother lived in Viviers, a place he visited for seventeen years, often dropping in on  the Café des Arts when he came here.

His mother Huguette Galmiche (1920–2007), née Clerc, is buried in the cemetery at Viviers.

Pierre-Léon Boissin in Viviers, Ardèche (07)

Before finding the grave of Johnny Hallyday's mother, I was struck by this sculpture of a man and his dog in the ancien cimetière in Viviers. Who was this guy? I wasn't the only one to ask himself the same question, but it turns out that this is a representation of Pierre-Léon Boissin, who owned a nearby villa called Pax, and the statue was originally erected in the park there, awaiting his death: a work effected by Baussan et Bauvas (sometime between the creation of the villa in 1889) and 1916. On Boisson's death Villa Pax was sold and the buyer had the sepulcre moved to the cemetery. But of the nature of Boisson, his life, I can't readily find anything. (His dog, by the way, was called Gypsey.

The Box Tree Moth in Viviers, Ardèche (07)

It's surprising what you can find out even when you're not looking for it. For instance today we were (like another pair of French seekers, plus another guy from Cavaillon) looking for the grave of Johnny Hallyday's mother – when we were surrounded by 'butterflies' (although I thought they may be daytime moths) and this obliging little creature posed for me for quite some time. OK, you do the Google, and discover that this is the pyrale du buis, or box tree moth, whose caterpillar was introduced into Europe from Asia by accident in the first decade of this century, and is causing such havoc among boxwood trees that it is considered a pest. Shame really, as my partner Penny thought they'd come out to celebrate Johnny's 75th birthday (last Friday). Obviously some people must hate them, but surely they're nothing like the pest that is the human race?

And this is another example of the moth, seen in thousands just a few hundred kilometers north of Viviers in  Savigny-lès-Beaune (21). Our car roof was covered in the creatures, some of which had died or were dying in the morning dew.