Jean Alexandre Joseph Falguière (also given as Jean-Joseph-Alexandre Falguière, or in short Alexandre Falguière) (7 September 183120 April 1900) was a French sculptor and painter.

Biography

Falguière was born in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and fr ...

. A pupil of the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...

, he won the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

in 1859; he was awarded the medal of honor at the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial ar ...

in 1868 and was appointed Officer of the Legion of Honor in 1878. Falguière's first

bronze statue Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as well as bronze elements ...

of importance was ''Le Vainqueur au Combat de Coqs (Victor of the

Cockfight A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or ent ...

)'' (1864), and '' Tarcisius the Christian Boy-Martyr'' followed in 1867; both were exhibited in the

Luxembourg Museum Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

and are now in the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French a ...

. His more important monuments are those to Admiral Courbet (1890) at

Abbeville Abbeville (, vls, Abbekerke, pcd, Advile) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the chef-lieu of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of ...

and the famous

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronat ...

. Other works include ''Eve'' (1880), ''Diana'' (1882 and 1891), ''Woman and Peacock'' (a. k. a. '' Juno and The Peacock''), and ''The Poet'', astride his

Pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

spreading wings for flight. He sculpted ''The Dancer'', based on

Cléo de Mérode Cléopâtre-Diane de Mérode (27 September 1875 – 17 October 1966) was a French dancer of the Belle Époque. She has been referred to as the "first real celebrity icon" and the "first modern celebrity". She was also the first woman whose photog ...

which today is also in the

. In 1870 he helped create the snow sculpture, '' La statue de la Résistance''. To these works should be added his monuments to Cardinal Lavigerie and to ''

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revolutio ...

'' (in Washington, DC), and his statues of

Alphonse de Lamartine Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...

(1876) and

St Vincent de Paul Vincent de Paul, CM (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660), commonly known as Saint Vincent de Paul, was a Occitan French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor. In 1622 Vincent was appointed a chaplain to the galleys. After ...

(1879), as well as the ''Honoré de Balzac'', which he executed for the

Société des gens de lettres Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

on their rejection of that by

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

; and the busts of

Carolus-Duran Charles Auguste Émile Durand, known as Carolus-Duran (Lille 4 July 1837 – 17 February 1917 Paris), was a French painter and art instructor. He is noted for his stylish depictions of members of high society in Third Republic France. Biograph ...

and

Ernest Alexandre Honoré Coquelin Ernest Alexandre Honoré Coquelin (16 May 18488 February 1909) was a French actor. Also called Coquelin Cadet, to distinguish him from his brother, he was born at Boulogne, and entered the Conservatoire A music school is an educational instit ...

(1896). Falguière was a painter as well as a sculptor. His ''Wrestlers'' (1875) and ''Fan and Dagger'' (1882; a defiant Spanish woman) were in the Luxembourg, and other pictures of importance are ''The Beheading of St John the Baptist'' (1877), ''The Sphinx'' (1883), ''Acis and Galatea'' (1885), ''Old Woman and Child'' (1886) and ''In the Bull Slaughter-House''. Falguière also taught; among his students were

Francis Edwin Elwell Francis Edwin Elwell (also cited as Frank Edwin Elwell) (June 15, 1858, Concord, Massachusetts – January 23, 1922, Darien, Connecticut) was an American sculptor, teacher, and author. He lectured on art at Harvard University, and taught modelin ...

Ernest Henri Dubois Ernest Henri Dubois (March 16, 1863 in Dieppe; December 30, 1930 in Paris), was a French sculptor. He enrolled in 1881 at the École des Arts décoratiif and then attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he studied under Alexandre Falgui ...

Julien Caussé Julien Caussé (also given as Cadet-Julien Caussé, Cadet Julien Caussé and Julien Cadet Caussé, birth name Jules Caussé) (1869–after 1929) was a prolific French sculptor during the art nouveau period of the late 19th and early 20th cent ...

Laurent Marqueste Laurent-Honoré Marqueste (Toulouse 12 June 1848 — Paris, 5 April 1920) was a French sculptor in the neo-Baroque Beaux-Arts tradition. He was a pupil of François Jouffroy and of Alexandre Falguière. Marqueste won the Prix de Rome in 1871. L ...

, Henri Crenier and Théophile Barrau. Falguière became a member of the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institut ...

( Académie des Beaux-Arts) in 1882. Falguière died in Paris in 1900 and was interred there in the

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figure ...

, where his monument is by his pupil Marqueste.

Notes

External links

* *
Insecula: index to pages displaying Falguière's work
(it may be necessary to close an advertising window to view this page) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Falguiere, Alexandre 1831 births 1900 deaths Artists from Toulouse Academic art Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 19th-century French painters French male painters Prix de Rome for sculpture École des Beaux-Arts alumni Members of the Académie des beaux-arts Officiers of the Légion d'honneur 19th-century French sculptors French male sculptors 19th-century French male artists

Biography

See also

Notes

External links