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)

Vélocio (Paul de Vivie), Pernes-les-Fontaines (84)

Paul de Vivie (1853-1930) isn't a household name, even in his native France, and nor even is he well known by his more popular name 'Vélocio' (which the French Wikipédia page translates as 'the fast cyclist'). However, he's big in Pernes-les-Fontaines, a small town in Vaucluse. Vélocio was born in Pernes, moved to Saint-Étienne and started cycling in 1881. He became secretary of the Club des cyclistes stéphanois the following year, when he also established the Stéphanoise cycle company La Gauloise, and in 1886 L'Agence Générale Vélocipédique. In 1887 he founded Le Cycliste forézien magazaine, which became Le Cycliste in 1888. He visited England and established firm connections with Raleigh cycles in Nottingham. Vélocio is the founder of French cycling tourism, and a firm supporter of vegetarianism, which he believed led to a long life. Unfortunately he died in 1930 after being hit by a tram, which fractured his skull and from which he never regained consciousness. He is buried in the Cimetière de Loyasse, in Lyon.

As a centenary commemoration of his birth, this plaque was affixed to Vélocio's birthplace.

This monument was inaugurated in 2003, the 150th anniversary of Vélocio's birth.

Le Massif ocrier du Luberon, Roussillon (84)

The village of Roussillon is most popularly known as the village where Samuel Beckett stayed with his partner Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil from 1942 to 1945 during World War II. But the ochre hills around Roussillon have long been exploited commercially, one site has been listed and is open as an attraction. Here natural geographical shapes mix with shapes that have been formed by exploitation, and some structures have exotic names such as Cheminées des fées, Cirque des aiguilles and Chaussée des géants. Two trails exist, of different lengths and merging into each other. It is quite a spectacular sight.

Pierre Magnan in Revest-Saint-Martin (04)

Patrick Magnan (1922-2012) was born in Manosque and much inspried by Jean Giono. Thyde Monnier persuaded her editor Juillard to publish his first novel. L'Aube insolite appeared in 1946, although it was La Maison assassinée (1984) which was his most successful.

"'J'ai écrit dans ce pigeonnier la plupart de mes livres ; J'y ai vécu heureux pendant 30 ans.'
Pierre Magnan

1922-2012"

Jean Giono et al, Le Contadour (04)

Les Rencontres du Contadour were a series of biennial anti-war meetings (Easter and September) between September 1935 and September 1939, which lasted a fortnight and were instigated by Jean Giono, who bought property there with a view to creating a kind of utopia. It was after the publication of Que ma joie demeure (1935) that the idea came to Giono, a novel which describes the ideal of a simple life in the country, an artisanal life as opposed to town life with its factories and machine production. The group consisted of mainly young intellectuals, some of them Parisian, and a series of papers were published after each meeting.* Giono bought an old mill which was renovated, although it is now in ruins. The farm he bought too now belongs to Les Amis de Jean Giono, with its interesting beehive-shaped structures at the side.

*These were published as Les Cahiers du Contadour, of which there were nine.

My Jean Giono posts:
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Sylvie Giono: Jean Giono à Manosque
Jean Giono: L' Homme qui plantait des arbres
Jean Giono: Le Hussard sur le toit
Jean Giono: Colline | Hill of Destiny
Jean Giono: Un de Baumugnes | Lovers Are Never Losers
Jean Giono in Manosque
Jean Giono: Notes sur l'affaire Dominici
Jean Giono's grave, Manosque, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
Pierre Citron: Jean Giono 1895–1970
Jean Giono: Regain | Second Harvest
Jean Giono: Que ma joie demeure
Jean Giono: Pour saluer Melville
Jean Giono et al, Le Contadour

Le Mont Ventoux from the horloge, Pernes-les-Fontaines (84)

View of Le Mont ventoux as seen from the horloge in Pernes-les-fontaines.

Marcel Pagnol in Grambois (84)

The village of Grambois has served as a backdrop to several scenes from the films of the books of Marcel Pagnol, notably the autobiographical La Gloire de mon Père and Le Château de ma Mère. In front of the Mairie is 'La fontaine aux Bartavelles'.

Jean Raffegeau's Cadran solaire (sundial) in Roussillon (84)

'Jean Raffegeau

1923-1993'

I daren't say anything about Jean Raffegeau's sundial because I don't understand anything about it: explanations are given in French and English but they may just as well be written in the most obscure language in the world for all I know: this is science, and I just have to admire from an ignorant distance.

Garlic in Piolenc (84)

A head of garlic is the emblem of Piolenc, Vaucluse, which also has a garlic festival. This representation of a head was made and given to Piolenc by Leonardo Leone, and blessed by Father Khanh Nguyen, curé of Piolenc. It was inaugurated by the town mayor in August 2016 at the time of the thirty-seventh garlic festival.

Jack Drummond and family, Forcalquier (04)

English biochemist Jack Drummond, his wife Anne and ten-year-old daughter Elizabeth were murdered when the family were travelling in France in a Hillman Minx brake. Drummond parked by the side of the road near Lurs (04) on 5 August 1952, the family camped, and the three were murdered. What has been called the Dominici affair because of Gaston Dominici's conviction is widely open to dispute, and the real facts behind the crime will most likely never be solved. The presence of Jean Giono hovers aroud here as in most parts of Provence, he attended the court case, and wrote a short book on his findings.

Aimée Castain in Banon (04)

Aimée Castain (1917-2015) was born and died in Banon. She spent her life as a shepherd until, inspired by the painter Jean-Michel Sardou, she made her first attempts at painting. The 'postman-poet' Jules Mougon, Pierre Martel (the founder of Alpes de Lumière) and the painter Serge Fiorio soon took an interest in her work. Oddly, these images are the only ones I currently know of of her grave on the internet. The cemetery is just outside the centre of the village, a few hundred metres from Le Bleuet.

Le Bleuet bookshop in Banon (04)

The bookshop Le Bleuet, in a central position in the village, and with an intriguing sculpture of a pile of books outside.

Marguerite Duras in Saint Rémy-de-Provence (13)

'[D]es journées entières dans les arbres', says this shop, which must be among the very few to have named itself after a modern play: by Marguerite Duras. I've no idea what Duras would have thought of that: she may have written an article about it, although I suspect she'd have no interest whatsoever.

Léandre Mégy in Saint-Michel-l'Observatoire (04)

'ICI NAQUIT LE 24 JUIN 1835

LÉANDRE MÉGY

ILLUSTRE INGÉNIEUR DE L'ÉCOLE DES

ARTS ET MÉTIERS D'AIX

INVENTEUR DU FREIN DE CÉLÉBRITÉ MONDIALE

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MORT EN 1910'

Frédéric Mistral in Saint-Michel-l'Observatoire (04)

Espace Frédéric Mistral, with a monument created on the hundredth anniversary of the death of Mistral and erected on the initiative of the organisation Lou Parla de Sant Mathièu.

My Frédéric Mistral posts:
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Frédéric Mistral at Le Mas du Juge
Frédéric Mistral: Mireille
Frédéric Mistral in Maillane
Le Pavillon de la Reine Jeanne, Les Baux-de-Provence
Frédéric Mistral in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
Frédéric Mistral in Saint-Giniez, Marseille
Frédéric Mistral, Marseille
Frédéric Mistral in Avignon
Frédéric Mistral in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
Frédéric Mistral in Grambois
Frédéric Mistral in Saint-Michel-l'Obsevatoire
Frédéric Mistral in Pertuis