Albert FOURIE
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Painter and illustrator.
Albert Fourié, born in Paris in 1854, began as a sculptor and gave up the chisel after his first exhibition, in 1877. In 1886 he painted Un repas de noces à Yport — a wedding feast at Yport — in which a Norman wedding party sits down to eat in the open air: the picture caused a sensation at the Salon of 1887, the State bought it, and it remains one of the most reproduced works of French regionalism. It hangs today in the musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen.
The story
Albert Fourié began as a sculptor. He exhibited in 1877, gave up the chisel, and nine years later painted the canvas that would make his name: a Norman wedding party at table in the open air, on the cliff at Yport.
Born in Paris on 24 April 1854, a pupil of Jean-Paul Laurens and of the sculptor Jean Gautherin, he won his first medal at the Salon of 1883 for La Chambre mortuaire de Mme Bovary, then two more in 1884 and 1887, and the gold medal of 1889.
He illustrated Flaubert, Hugo, Daudet and Maupassant, and the State bought his Repas de noces à Yport, today in the Museum of Fine Arts at Rouen — one of the most reproduced images in French regionalist painting. He died on 17 December 1937 at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, at eighty-three.
The marble sarcophagus in Division 9 carries his name carved without an accent — “Albert FOURIE” — and, before him, “Stéphanie FOURIE née TESNIERE 1815-1888.” Bronze bas-reliefs show a dancer, flowers, a painter's palette among oak branches, and a phrase in Latin: “ad memoriam patris et filii,” to the memory of the father and the son.
The grave
A marble sarcophagus, whose inscription gives the dates to the day: “Albert FOURIE, 24 avril 1854, 17 décembre 1937. Stéphanie FOURIE née TESNIERE 1815-1888.” Two details: the name is written without an accent, whereas his name is spelled “FOURIÉ”; and the first person named died nearly fifty years before him. Nothing of the Repas de noces à Yport, nor of the gold medal of 1889.
On site, do not miss
A marble sarcophagus, with dates given to the day. The name is carved without an accent — “Albert FOURIE” — whereas his name is spelled “FOURIÉ”.
Visitors' questions
Where is Albert Fourié's grave?
In Division 9, avenue Latérale Sud, first row, in a marble sarcophagus. The inscription gives his dates to the day and also names Stéphanie Fourié née Tesnière (1815-1888). He died on 17 December 1937, at eighty-three.
Paul DuboisWhat is his best-known painting?
Repas de noces à Yport, a wedding breakfast at Yport, painted in 1886 and kept at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen: a Norman wedding party at table in the open air, one of the most reproduced images of regionalist painting. He was a Rouen man.
Albert BartholoméWas he an official painter?
He was: official painter of the Republic, with many state commissions. It was the trade of an academic painter in a Republic that decorated its public buildings generously. He was a sculptor and an illustrator as well.
Guillaume DubufeHow is his name spelled?
The inscription on the grave writes FOURIE without an accent, where his name is spelled “FOURIÉ”: the accent is missing from the stone.
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