Alexis Jean Fournier

Alexis Jean Fournier was an American artist. He is well known in Minnesota for his naturalistic paintings of Minneapolis and St. Paul landmarks, such as Farnham's Mill, which was one of the earliest mills established in Minneapolis. Fournier is also renowned beyond Minnesota as an important figure in the Arts and Crafts movement.

Born in St. Paul, Minnesota on July 4, 1865, Fournier was raised in Wisconsin by French Canadian parents. In 1879, at the age of fourteen, Fournier moved to Minneapolis. Aspiring to be an artist, Fournier found work painting signs and stage scenery. Creating stage scenery gave him more time for his own painting and gave him experience painting panoramas, a popular nineteenth century art form. He began to experience modest success as a landscape painter.

In 1886, Fournier attended a class at the newly established Minneapolis School of Art. The school was directed by Boston artist Douglas Volk, and Fournier soon took private lessons with him. Under Volk's instruction, Fournier developed a more subtle sense of color and a brushier style.

During the next three years, Fournier married his first wife Emma and had two children, Grace and Paul. He also began supporting his family as a full-time artist. He rented a studio above a tailor's shop at 412 Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis.

Fournier was invited to travel around the American Southwest with patron H. Jay Smith in 1891. After the trip, Fournier painted an acclaimed 50x12 foot panoramic mural that depicted stone dwellings in cliffs in the Mesa Verde region of Colorado that had been constructed by Ancient Puebloans. The panoramic was displayed at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where thousands of people saw the mural and heard Fournier interpret it publicly.

Continuing to grow as an artist, in 1893, Fournier traveled to Paris, France, where he studied at the Académie Julian. His trip was funded by several benefactors, including James J. Hill. In France, Fournier was strongly influenced by the Barbizon school, a group of nineteenth century French painters who were drawn to natural landscapes and romanticism.

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