The oft-recounted story behind the extraordinary Palais Idéal in Hauterives, France, is that rural postman Ferdinand Cheval (1836–1924) found an unusually-shaped stone on his route which compelled him to spend the next thirty-three years building an elaborate architectural fantasy from cement and more stones collected on his rounds. The structure is aptly named if you consider it the ideal to which Edward James may have been aspiring with Las Pozas. James could hardly be unaware of Cheval’s work since it was praised as a Surrealist precursor by André Breton, admired by Picasso and inspired a collage by Max Ernst.
These panoramas came via a link at the official Facteur Cheval site. As usual, Flickr is the place to go for detailed views.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The panoramas archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Las Pozas and Edward James