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Please see the blog in French :

LES REMOULEURS – Histoire – Actualité.

Many thanks.

Everyday good work

Copying a sign of wood and relief, English style, baught ago fifteen years. 
The representation of grinder is quite good, even if it’s left foot pedal, which is rare in the current reality, but usual on etchings or lithographs, printing processes that reverse the drawing of the artist. 
Assuming that the original of this placard has really existed, it is unclear whether the grinder took shop or it was travelling. One thing is sure, the fame of the profession is raised by these three words: Everyday Good work. 
Size : about 21″ x 31″ (53 x 78 cm).

The cyclo-grinder of Buenos Aires

On the pavement of Buenos Aires there are singers or musicians who perform the tango fot finish month ! And voila that these same streets also hosting knife grinders.
This one is working on an avenue in the capital. Look at the beautiful against-the-light, and the framing of this photo (2006) by Giuseppe found on the net.
We see perfectly the mechanism used to move the grinds. These are on a cradle of iron round (and therefore lighter) set on the part of the cycle. The rear wheel of the bicycle is elevated by a slight bridge, also iron round, which stabilizes the whole and can ride in a vacuum. On this rear wheel is fixed a pulley which, it seems, is a smaller rim diameter. It is connected by a belt to a small-diameter pulley fixed on the axis of the grinds. In pedaling at a reasonable speed, the man rotates its millstones at a high speed given by the multiplier.

Pictured in large format we see that the belt is crossed, running the grinds in the opposite direction from the rear wheel. A small bag in front of the handlebars allows him to carry a minimum tools and even put his jacket. Overall, this knife grinder’s equipment is minimalist, it allows him a good autonomy with a minimum of fatigue. 
Just about everywhere in the world, knives grinders have adopted the bicycle, it allows them to expand their area of work. This is undoubtedly a consequence of the geographical expansion of cities and redeployment of habitat to the outskirts. 
Photo © Giuseppe 2006. Click to enlarge it. 
Tip : go to the site Giuseppe and see this picture in large size : superb !

The knife grinder’s loneliness

Beautiful postcard of the first quarter of the twentieth century. 
Camprodon is a small town (2300 inhabitants) of Catalonia of Spain in the Pyrenees near the French border. It is located in a natural mountain beauty. It has important monuments Medieval, Renaissance and Art Nouveau. The village has originated in the Benedictine monastery of Sant Pere. It is the birthplace of composer Isaac Albeniz, where a museum is dedicated to him. Among the industrial activities of this town, there is the manufacture of biscuits and sausages including several specialties. 
It seems to sharpen knives few workshops charcuterie that the knife grinder on this postcard was travelling to Camprodon at the beginning of the twentieth century. At the moment of the picture, it seems to pause for blowing somewhat. Either he expects customers ? We can see upward the street from St Roch few silhouettes but the area where is our grinder is desperately empty. Our man is alone and actually feel loneliness is accentuated by the vault of the first plan that seems to weigh on rémouleur and his equipment. A loneliness had to know that occasionally number of itinerant workers during their tours. Note that there is no wheel to move the equipment who was then carried on the back by tradition in this mountainous region of Spain. 
Thanks to photographer at the time for this beautiful picture, without rémouleur would have less interest despite a deep and beautiful values of grey knew how to make the printers of yesteryear… 
To complement, see our article in June 3, 2008 : EL AFILADOR and a superb view of the Camprodon’s bridge (which we see one of the vaults above), photo signed Braid44.

Placard or wind vane ?

Found on the Internet, this picture is in our collection since 2002. We have no details about this beautiful silhouette of knife grinder wrought iron. Is this a sign ? Or more simply the work of a craftsman who allegedly carried out for fun ? But this is probably not a wind vane, we do not see how it could turn with the wind. 
We therefore appeal to readers of this blog. If one of you has an idea of the origin of this silhouette, the place where it is and especially the artist who has done, thank you let us know by an email (ciecoinderue(-)wanadoo.fr). The best answer the most accurate report to its author a gift : a beautiful engraving, A4, drawn from a picture book IN THE KNIFES GRINDERS’s LAND representative (of course) a knife grinder. Shipping costs included. So dear readers, we are waiting ! In advance, thank you. 
Photo © X – Credit reserved.

Alain Bertuzzi, knife grinder now

Alain Bertuzzi crosses the Champagne and Lorraine with his bench knife grinder very rustic. 
In fact, as his colleague François Noisette (See post, march, 29), he surveyed the traditional festivals, celebrations of the old crafts, flea markets. Some would say that this is an operetta rémouleur… Let us say. 
As kives grinders of yesteryear, he overrides his trade tools and accessories: key mollette, screwdrivers, pliers, limes… He reminds us that sometimes knives grinders gathering rabbit skins. The bell is circumstantial to bring its passage, the milk-box contains water for cooling. The umbrella has a dual purpose: to protect themselves from rain or sun. On the door of a small wooden chest three words are engraved: WIN THE MISERY. An allusion to the status of knives grinders during centuries until the second mondial war. 
Alain is also a poet and he is not lacking, as far as possible, putting on his equipment a beautiful flower! So, he cheers a little life, hers as that of his clients. 
Photos taken at the Fair vosgienne of junk to Xaronval (Vosges-France) in September 2006.  
Alain Bertuzzi will be to Haut Koenigsbourg (Alsace) Sunday, October 5 for the feast of trades as part of events marking the centenary of the restoration of the castle.
Click on the picture below to enlarge it. 

The knife grinder into the plate

This knife grinder roamed on its plate in a secondhand trade visited last Sunday to Jaulny in Lorraine (France). Same evening, he integrated our collection.
The graphics  fills  completely the plate: main motive in the center surrounded by a floral frieze. If the bench of the grinder is rather naïve, even simplistic, the scene is interesting. The man, between two sounds of the bell which he holds in his hand, shouts: knives, scissors, to grind … 
At least we imagine. The high society strides the street, the couple seems to look at the itinerant : curiosity or inconvenience ? The woman in the window could be interested in the services of the grinder, although … She has the head somewhere else ! And the man alone turns obviously to this woman ! Let us be delirious…
Surmounted by a banner which announces the name of the profession, LE REMOULEUR, and although a little loaded, this scene is very alive after all. In spite of a well balanced composition, this engraving is not big art but joins rather in a popular realistic vein which pleases a large number of people.Whatever are the notices, it is henceforth a beautiful detail of our collection!
No indication on the earthenware factory which produced it.

The knife grinder by Ellen Pyle

Of a rather unusual format for a painting, this youth work of the American Ellen Pyle (1876-1936) captivates us at once. This artist has a glance of photographer: she takes the subject in low-angle shot. A part of the wheel is certainly missing, but even there she proposes us as an immediate rather than a well centred, well finished, well licked picture … Amazing really for a work which dates the end of the XIXth century.In fact, it is a study exposed with several others in 1899. These studies had to end in a picture of big size entitled The Knife Grinder. Regrettably, we ignore everything of this picture today: contained, size, place where it is …
The attitude of the grinder is technically good, the rotation of the wheel is well returned, the equipment is simple but correctly represented, which is not always the case in the pictorial works. Thanks to observer’s qualities of the artist, Ellen Pyle, this painting does not leave indifferent, on the contrary.
Click the image to enlarge it.
To know more about Ellen Pyle : her life, her career and her works, consult THIS SITE  © 2007 Katharine E. Smith.

The TOUR DE FRANCE of the grinder

While the cycle Tour de France ends, we propose you a funny drawing which stages very different pédalers. This drawing is the work of TETSU.
Painter (1913-2008) came to the drawing of humor, his first drawing appears in 1951. Very fast, he collaborates in the main magazines, among others France Dimanche, Ici Paris, Le Figaro Magazine, Jours de France, VSD or Lui. 
Recognized and greeted by all his colleagues, he is one of bosses of the drawing of humor. His acrid irony dismisses a cruel image of the human existence. Several collections of his drawings were published. Exhibitions were dedicated to himher in France and in Belgium.
(According to Wikipedia).

Knife grinder in Venezuela

To complete the series of grinders working with a restricted equipment (Cf our previous articles), here is a photo discovered on the blog of exiled French : Victor in Venezuela.
Interested installation which of this grinder : he fixed the small grinder manual worker on the low bench on which he sits, so obtaining a good stability of his tool. The knife is held in the left hand whereas the right activates the grind.
Like his colleague of Mexico City, he cannot obtain a big precision in the sharpening of the blade but maybe which his experiment allows him to offer a performance of acceptable quality. The photographer could say it to us because it is the own knife which the grinder sharpens … Let us notice finally that the dimension of the grindstone limits the size of blades to be refreshed.
Photo © 2005 – Victor Bruley.