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Alexis Fournier, of the Barbizon School, Definition Promised

         The Barbizon School  (1830-1870) gets its name from the village of Barbizon in northern France where a group of landscape artists lived and worked.  They rejected the classical landscape style, instead working directly from nature, creating  realistic images of the countryside.  They glorified the lives of the ordinary workers in these villages even to selecting their subjects for political and social reasons.  Though unpopular among the elite of Paris, their work became highly prized by the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

          Alexis Fournier admired the work of these artists, lived for a while in the region in France and became known as one of the Barbizon School.  Alexis Fournier lived out his last days in East Aurora, having been drawn to Elbert Hubbard's Roycroft.

          As mentioned in an earlier blog, his remarkable murals for the Roycroft Inn Salon can be seen any day, at the Inn in East Aurora, up the Appian Way, across Grove street from the Roycroft Campus and Roycroft Copper Shop. 

          The Copper Shop, now during the summer, open daily 10 am-5 pm  PLUS Wednesday and Fridays until 7 pm.

Elbert Hubbard Refers to Tophet

           Tophet:1) a place in the valley of Hinnom, near Jerusalem, where, contrary to the law, children were offered as sacrifices especially to Moloch.  It was later used as a dumping ground for refuse. 2) the place of punishment for the wicked after death, hell.  Some place likened to hell.

             Taken from Random House unabridged dictionary.

          Hubbard used the word  in this epigram: "Brace with booze and bromide and you are on the slide for Tophet, sure as hell."

Fourier Used Word Phalanstery. Elbert Hubbard Ran With It To His Roycroft Inn

          Phalanstery, a word immortalized in the Roycroft Inn, had its origin with Francois Marie Charles Fourier, 1772-1837, French socialist, writer and reformer.  Elbert Hubbard used the word to describe a newly completed portion of his Roycroft Inn.  The following was taken from a 1903 Little Journey.

          "PHALANSTERY:

                  The word was first used by Fourier, and means literally "the home of friends."  The ROYCROFT PHALANSTERY, with its new addition, just completed, consists of a kitchen, scientific and modern in all of its appointments; a dining-room that seats a hundred people; thirty-eight sleeping rooms; reception rooms, etc. etc.  That is to say it is an INN, managed somewhat like a Swiss Monastery, simple, yet complete in all of its appointments--where the traveler is made welcome.  There are always a few visitors with us.  Some remain simply for a meal, others stay a day, or a week, or a month.  A few avail themselves of the services of our Musical Director, the Physical Instructor, or take lessons in drawing and painting.  The prices: Meals, such as they are, say twenty-five cents; lodging, fifty cents.  If the parties of a dozen or more want accommodations, it is well to telegraph ahead to THE BURSAR of THE ROYCROFTERS, EAST AURORA, NEW YORK."

       Fourier should not be confused with Roycroft artist Alexis Fournier.      

Elbert Hubbard's Roycroft Chapel Uses Crenelated Tower

                                                   The question has arisen as to the meaning of  the word "crenelated" in reference to the architecture of two of the Roycroft buildings on the Roycroft Campus.  The crenelated towers are on the Print Shop and the Chapel, seen here on the left. In case you've been asked, a "crenel is any of the open spaces between the merlons of a battlement".  Therefore, to furnish with crenels makes it crenelated.

        One might then ask what in the world is a merlon?  Not a magician I'm certain. However, according to my faithful Random House  Dictionary of the English Language, unabridged, "a merlon is the solid part between two crenels".

         Now if your fifth grader tells you the Roycroft Chapel has a crenelated tower you'll know what he/she's talking about.

Roycrofter Printers and Bookbinders Knew Their Business

          Would you know these bookish terms?

          Recto- the right hand side of an open book or manuscript

          Verso - the left hand side of an open book or manuscript.

          Certainly the Roycroft printers and bookbinders would have.

          In case this comes up in Jeopardy you'll know.

            

Elbert Hubbard's Roycroft Appian Way Defined

       Elbert Hubbard named the walkway that guided visitors from his Roycroft Inn, across the Campus to the Roycroft Shops, THE APPIAN WAY. 

       He took the name from "VIA APPIA, a highroad from Rome to Camanla and lower Italy, constructed 312 B.C.  by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus."   "the most famous of Roman roads....the queen of long distance roads."  from Encyclopedia Britannica