Alexis Jean Fournier (1865-1948)

Alexis Jean Fournier is one of the most well known of painters born in Minnesota.  Born in St. Paul on July 4, 1865, Fournier was mainly a self taught artist.  He was never offically enrolled, but took lessons from artist Douglas Volk, who founded the Minneapolis School of Art.  Fournier also studied at the Academie Julian in Paris.  As his career progressed, he gained many wealthy patrons, including the lumber baron James J. Hill.  In 1894 one of his paintings was accepted for exhibit to the Paris Salon.  Fournier made frequent trips to Paris.  His work was exhibited locally through the Beard Gallery on Nicollet Avenue in Downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.  In 1903, Fournier moved to Aurora, New York to direct the Roycroft Arts and Crafts Community.  He later moved to an artist's colony in Indiana.  Fournier later returned to the Roycroft Community, where he died on January 20, 1948.

Information from Minnesota Impressionists, Rena Neumann Coen, 1996, Afton Historical Society Press