update: Abbé Fouré, a booklet by Joëlle Jouneau

The Association of friends of Abbé Fouré's oeuvre  has been rather active this spring (2013).

Stimulated by the association, the exhibition l'Art Brut à l'Ouest (Brest, Musée des Beaux Arts) opened in april, featuring the photographs of Gilles Ehrmann and the creations of Abbé Fouré and Per Jain.

And in may a booklet has been published about life and work of the priest, who became famous because of  the sculptures he carved in the rocks on Rothéneuf's seaside. Written by the association's president, Joëlle Jouneau, and entitled l'Ermite de Rothéneuf, this publication offers a biography of Adolphe Fouré (1839-1910) and has a description and assessment, based on the insights so far, of his creative activity.

Fouré's life and work for long time have been surrounded by frills and legends. Only lately an attempt is made to figure out the truth and this book contributes to this.

Just some examples:
* it has been related that Fouré, when he was the rector of Paimpont, travelled to England to ask the owners of the lcoal forges to refrain from the phased closing of these forges (cf Noguette, 1919); recent research in english archives so far has not confirmed this;
*it also has been related, that Fouré in 1893 had to terminate his activities as a priest because he had become deaf and suffered from a stroke; in this respect the archives reveal that the priest in a local dispute took position against the authorities, after which he was dismissed from his office by the leadership of the church.

The book also has a review, as closely as possible given the available knowledge, of Fouré's creations, both the ones in and around his house and the ones carved in the rocks. Since there still are many questions, this is an ungoing project.

This litlle book, 12 x 17.5 cm, 64 pages, richly illustrated with old postcards, can  be ordered at Libraire La Procure (euro 6.50 + postage, Paypal available).