Bucky + Towers

R. Buckminster Fuller discusses Simon Rodia's towers, 1983.

This 40 minute unedited interview is included as a DVD bonus feature with the documentary I Build The Tower by Edward Landler & Brad Byer, Bench Movies, 2006. This was R. Buckminster Fuller's final interview at the age of 87. (Isamu Noguchi's chrome nickel steel bust of Fuller features prominently)

previously

Nuestro Pueblo

Simon Rodia's towers in Watts, CA, earlier today.

(Simon Rodia 1879-1965)

palais idéal

from La Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval: Quand le songe devient la réalité by Jean-Pierre Jouve, Claude Prevost, & Clovis Prevost, A.R.I.E. éditions, 1981 (1994 edition) French language

Farmer, baker, and postman, Ferdinand Cheval dreamt of building his Palais Idéal (Ideal Palace) for twleve years prior to actually undertaking the project, which absorbed thirty-three years of his life. Inspired in 1879 by the chance discovery of an extraordinary piece of sandstone, Cheval, completely unschooled in building, resolved to become a mason and architect in order to utilize what he later referred to as nature's sculpture. On his postal rounds in the southeastern village of Hauterives (France), he collected stones of odd and fanciful shapes, transporting them home first in his pockets and later by wheelbarrow to be used in his construction. (from Parallel Visions: Modern Artists and Outsider Art, LACMA/Princeton, 1992)

Andre Bréton called him the "undisputed master of mediumistic sculpture and architecture".

Clarence Schmidt: My Mirrored Hope

Clarence Schmidt's Miracle on the Mountain, Ohayo Mountain, Woodstock, NY.
from Horizon, Vol. VI, No. 4, Autumn 1964 (before the fire)
elsewhere

Howard Finster: The Night Before Christmas/This Wicked World

(endpapers, illustration details, and photo of Howard Finster from) The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore, illustrated by Howard Finster, Longstreet Press, 1998.
Along with Moore's original text, Finster has bordered each page with his own handwritten messages: "THE FURTHER YOU PUSH GOD BACK THE WORSE IT WILL GET"

also here at Curious Pages (with entertaining commentary)

Anarchitecture

Richard Greaves: Anarchitecte/Anarchitect, edited by Sarah Lombardi & Valerie Rouseau, photos by Mario del Curto, 5 Continents Editions, 2005 (in print)

previously

un petit peu plus de M. Chaissac

More from Gaston Chaissac: Poète rustique et peintre moderne by Benoît Decron, Didier Semin, & Guy Tosatto, Actes Sud, 2009

previously

Gaston Chaissac: Poète rustique et peintre moderne

Gaston Chaissac: Poète rustique et peintre moderne by Benoît Decron, Didier Semin, and Guy Tosatto, Actes Sud, 2009 (French language)

Gaston Chaissac (France, 1910-1964)