Editing George Gurdjieff (section)

===''Prieuré'' at Avon===
In August 1921 and 1922, Gurdjieff travelled around western Europe, lecturing and giving demonstrations of his work in various cities, such as Berlin and London. He attracted the allegiance of Ouspensky's many prominent pupils (notably the editor [[A. R. Orage]]). After an unsuccessful attempt to gain British citizenship, Gurdjieff established the [[Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man]] south of Paris at the ''Prieuré des Basses Loges'' in [[Avon, Seine-et-Marne|Avon]] near the famous ''[[Chateau Fontainebleau|Château de Fontainebleau]].'' The once-impressive but somewhat crumbling mansion set in extensive grounds housed an entourage of several dozen, including some of Gurdjieff's remaining relatives and some [[White émigré|White Russian]] refugees. Gurdjieff is quoted by his students in ''Views from the Real World'' as saying: "The Institute can help one to be able to be a Christian." An aphorism was displayed which stated: "Here there are neither Russians nor English, Jews nor Christians, but only those who pursue one aim{{snd}}to be able to be."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Recollections |first=Pupils |title=Views From The Real World |pages=152, 286 |url=http://www.gurdjieff.am/library/views.pdf |year=1973 |publisher=Routledge and Keegan Paul |isbn=0525228705 |language=en}}</ref>

New pupils included [[C. S. Nott]], {{ill|René Zuber|fr|vertical-align=sup}}, [[Margaret C. Anderson|Margaret Anderson]] and her ward [[Fritz Peters (author)|Fritz Peters]]. The intellectual and middle-class types who were attracted to Gurdjieff's teaching often found the Prieuré's spartan accommodation and emphasis on hard labour on the grounds disconcerting. Gurdjieff was putting into practice his teaching that people need to develop physically, emotionally and intellectually, so lectures, music, dance, and manual work were organised. Older pupils noticed how the Prieuré teaching differed from the complex metaphysical "system" that had been taught in Russia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gurdjieff.org/lipsey1.htm |title=R. Lipsey: ''Gurdjieff Observed'' |publisher=Gurdjieff.org |date=1999-10-01 |access-date=2014-03-02}}</ref> In addition to the physical hardships, his personal behaviour towards pupils could be ferocious:

<blockquote>
Gurdjieff was standing by his bed in a state of what seemed to me to be completely uncontrolled fury. He was raging at Orage, who stood impassively and very pale, framed in one of the windows... Suddenly, in the space of an instant, Gurdjieff's voice stopped, his whole personality changed and he gave me a broad smile—and looking incredibly peaceful and inwardly quiet, motioned me to leave. He then resumed his tirade with undiminished force. This happened so quickly that I do not believe that Mr. Orage even noticed the break in the rhythm.<ref>Fritz Peters, ''Boyhood with Gurdjieff''.</ref>
</blockquote>

During this period, Gurdjieff acquired notoriety as "the man who killed Katherine Mansfield" after [[Katherine Mansfield]] died there of [[tuberculosis]] on 9 January 1923.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moore |first=James |title=Gurdjieff and Mansfield |page=[https://archive.org/details/gurdjieffmansfie0000moor/page/3 3] |quote=In numerous accounts Gurdjieff is defined with stark simplicity as "the man who killed Katherine Mansfield". |year=1980 |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |isbn=0-7100-0488-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/gurdjieffmansfie0000moor/page/3 }}</ref> However, James Moore and Ouspensky<ref>Ouspensky, ''In search of the Miraculous,'' chapter XVIII, p. 392</ref> argue that Mansfield knew she would soon die and that Gurdjieff made her last days happy and fulfilling.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fraser |first=Ross |title=Gabrielle Hope 1916–1962 |journal=Art New Zealand |volume=30 |issue=Winter |url=http://www.art-newzealand.com/Issues21to30/hope.htm |access-date=2011-05-10 |archive-date=2017-10-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022213005/http://www.art-newzealand.com/Issues21to30/hope.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>