The
rapid spread of photography from the late nineteenth century
onwards meant that for the first time ordinary people
could commission a visual record of themselves and their
family in the same way as only the wealthy had been able
to do before. The combination of this with the introduction
of universal postal services and widespread railway travel
resulted in photographs of every day scenes, popular figures,
important events and local curiosities being printed and
widely distributed as picture postcards. These postcards
were produced in their millions but were some of the the
earliest records of what are now termed as Outsider Art
or Visionary Environments. Many of them have survived
over the years and portray a variety of long lost creations
with others that still exist to this day.
Without doubt one of the world's great environments,
the Palais Idéal (Ideal Palace) is the creation of Ferdinand
Cheval, a country postman who, while making his rounds
south of Lyon, France one day in 1879, came across a
'wondrous' stone, the discovery of which prompted him
to fulfil a dream. He began to collect more stones as
he walked the lanes of the area, and over the next 34
years he worked tirelessly to incorporate them into
a 'fairy-like palace beyond imagination that all the
genius of a humble man could conceive with grottoes,
towers, gardens, castles, museums and sculptures trying
to bring back to life all the ancient architectures
and primeval times' from the Bible to Hindu mythology.
Thanks to photographer Louis Charvat, who produced postcards
from 1902 for sale near the Palais, Cheval can be viewed
at work. In 1969 André Malraux, Minister of Culture,
declared the Palace a cultural landmark, and today it
is open to the public. Cynthia Elyce Rubin
Pontypool Park Grotto (Wales, UK)
This shell-covered grotto was originally a simple hunting
lodge which was converted in the 18th century by a well-known
local family. Wild and mysterious, it was constructed
from natural materials found in the area. Three tree-trunks
were used as columns at the entrance, and rough rocks
were incorporated in the building. The floor is decorated
and encrusted with animal bones and teeth which form
a kind of mosaic. The grotto itself was restored in
the early 1990s, and the rustic chairs, which date from
the beginning of the 19th century, in 1997. Jean-Michel Chesné
