Paul Moreau-Vauthier (26 November 1871 – 2 February 1936) was a French sculptor. Moreau-Vauthier first achieved public renown with his statue ''La Parisienne'' shown at the

Exposition Universelle (1900) The Exposition Universelle of 1900 (), better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate develop ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and is now perhaps best known for his memorial wall to the ''Victimes des révolutions'' (''Mur des Fédérés'') on Avenue Gambetta, Paris. He also created an allegorical work to commemorate

Louis Blériot Louis Charles Joseph Blériot ( , also , ; 1 July 1872 – 1 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of t ...

's first cross-Channel airplane flight in 1909. His work was also part of the art competitions at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

and the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held du ...

. A veteran of the

Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun ( ; ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in French Third Republic, France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...

, Moreau-Vauthier had the idea in 1920 to memorialize World War I by installing a series of sculpted stones along the 650 km front from

Nieuwpoort, Belgium Nieuwpoort ( , ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in Flemish Region, Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, in the province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the town o ...

through Moosch near

Altkirch Altkirch (, ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department in Alsace in north-eastern France. The town is traditionally regarded as the capital of Sundgau. Etymology The name of the commune means ''old c ...

, and on to the Franco-Swiss border. He presented his first model that year in Paris; Henri Defert, president of the Touring Club of France, endorsed the idea and invited the Belgian Touring Club to join the project. A total of 240 markers were planned (28 in Belgium, 212 in France), of which 118 were erected (22 in Belgium, 96 in France) in the years between 1921 and 1927. Three basic designs differ primarily in the

helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protecti ...

capping the milestone (French, Belgium, British), with side decorations of infantryman's gear such as water bottles,

hand grenade A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A mod ...

s, etc. Moreau-Vauthier died in 1936 in a car accident at Ruffigny near

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; ; ) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the urban area. Geography T ...

Deux-Sèvres Deux-Sèvres (, Poitevin-Saintongese: ''Deùs Saevres'') is a French department. ''Deux-Sèvres'' literally means "two Sèvres": the Sèvre Nantaise and the Sèvre Niortaise are two rivers which have their sources in the department. It had a ...

, and is buried in

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

in Paris.

Selected works

* ''La Parisienne'', Paris,

* ''Victimes des révolutions'', , Paris; designed 1900, built 1909 * '' Borne du Front'', many locations; between 1921–1927 * The

Monument to the heroes of the armée noire A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

commemorating those black soldiers from Africa who had served France in the Great War- “ ''Aux héros de l’Armée noire''”. Two identical bronze statues were made. One was erected in

Bamako Bamako is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2022 population of 4,227,569. It is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the upper and middle Niger valleys in the southwestern part of the country. Bamak ...

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in what was then the French Sudan but is now Mali and the other in Reims chosen especially as Senegalese troops had played a major role in her defense from May to July 1918. Moreau-Vauthier’s work involved four black soldiers grouped around a white officer, all defending the national flag. The bronze sculpture stood on a granite pedestal and on the four sides of this pedestal the names were inscribed of those battles in which black troops had fought-YSER/ARRAS/DARDANELLES/SOMME/VERDUN/ALSACE/CHEMIN DES DAMES/CHAMPAGNE/REIMS/CHATEAU-THIERRY/AISNE/ORIENT/MAROC/CAMEROUN-TOGO. The Reims monument was destroyed by the Germans during their occupation of Reims during the 1939-1945 war; its sentiments in honouring Africans being anathema to the Nazi code. The monument carried the inscription « ''Aux héros de l’Armée noire'' » : « ''en témoignage de reconnaissance envers les Enfants d’adoption de la France, morts en combattant pour la Liberté et la Civilisation'' » The monument in Reims was replaced after the Second World War and a new memorial can now be seen. File:Monument fédérés.jpg, ''Victimes des révolutions'', by Paul Moreau-Vauthier File:Borne-front0t.jpg, One of the

Western Front demarcation stones Western Front demarcation stones, known in French as (Front bollards or markers) or (Vauthier bollards or markers) and in Dutch as (demarcation posts), are monuments erected in France and Belgium to mark the limit of the German advance during th ...

File:Paul Moreau-Vauthier - Mme Boucicaut and Baronesse Clara de Hirsh.JPG, Memorial to Mme. Marguerite Boucicaut and Baroness Clara de Hirsh, honoring their charitable work, in the in Paris File:Reims-Armée noire(1924).jpg, Monument in Reims to the Senegalese soldiers of the French Army, erected in 1924, destroyed in September 1940

Notes

References

* *
Les bornes Touring Club de France et de Belgique

List of demarcation stones
*
Petit Patrimonie article

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moreau-Vauthier, Paul 1871 births 1936 deaths Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 20th-century French sculptors French male sculptors Art competitors at the 1932 Summer Olympics Art competitors at the 1928 Summer Olympics Road incident deaths in France French military personnel of World War I