Nicolas Joseph 'Claus' Cito (26 May 1882 – 10 October 1965) was a

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

ish

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

educated at the

Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels ( ''(ArBA-EsA)''; ) is an art school in Brussels, Belgium, founded in 1711. Starting from modest beginnings in a single room in Brussels Town Hall, Brussels' Town Hall, it has since 1876 been operat ...

in Brussels. He is most notable for having created the original

Gëlle Fra The Monument of Remembrance (), usually known by the nickname of the ''Gëlle Fra'' (Luxembourgish language, Luxembourgish for 'Golden Lady'), is a war memorial in Luxembourg City. It is dedicated to the thousands of Luxembourgers who volunte ...

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

, though his work can also be found at the

Notre-Dame Cathedral, Luxembourg Notre Dame Cathedral (, , ) is the Catholic cathedral of the Archdiocese of Luxembourg, located in Luxembourg City in southern Luxembourg. It was originally a Jesuit church, and its cornerstone was laid in 1613. It is the only cathedral in Luxemb ...

. Along with Emile Hulten and Charles Kohl, he worked on the bas-reliefs of the National Resistance Museum in

Esch-sur-Alzette Esch-sur-Alzette (, ; ; or ''Esch an der Alzig'') is a city in Luxembourg and the country's List of communes of Luxembourg by population, second-most populous commune, with a population of 36,625 inhabitants, . It lies in the south-west of the ...

, Luxembourg. In 1909, Cito shared the coveted

Prix Grand-duc Adolphe The Prix Grand-Duc Adolphe (Grand-Duke Adolphe Prize) is a Luxembourgian art award awarded every year to one or more artists exhibiting at the ''Salon Artistique'' of the ''Cercle artistique de Luxembourg'' (CAL). The award is named after Grand Du ...

with the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Wercollier. Cito was a cofounder of the Luxembourg secession movement in 1926, which promoted

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

. He exhibited at the first salon in 1927.Georgette Bisdorff, "Claus Cito, der Bildhauer aus Bascharage"
''Ons stad'' No 60, 1999. Retrieved 31 January 2011.

References

* 1882 births 1965 deaths People from Käerjeng Male sculptors Luxembourgian artists 20th-century Luxembourgian sculptors 20th-century male artists {{Luxembourg-sculptor-stub