Curated category
French male sculptors
- Pierre BontempsPierre Bontemps carved the faces of French kings and queens in stone, and yet most people who have stood beside his work never knew his name.
- Edgar DegasEdgar Degas was born on the 19th of July 1834 in Paris, under the full name Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas. He later adopted the simpler spelling himself, a…
- Michel ColombeMichel Colombe was born in Bourges into a family of artisans. This background provided the foundation for his future career as a sculptor.
- Henri MatisseHenri Émile Benoît Matisse did not pick up a paintbrush until he was nineteen years old. He had been trained as a lawyer, and was working as a court…
- Marcel DuchampMarcel Duchamp walked into a New York exhibition hall in 1917 and submitted a urinal for display. He had signed it with a pseudonym, "R.
- Paul GauguinPaul Gauguin was born in Paris on the 7th of June 1848, in the middle of a year when revolutions were sweeping across Europe.
- Auguste RodinAuguste Rodin was born into a working-class family in Paris on the 12th of November 1840, and he died 77 years later on the 17th of November 1917 -- just…
- Germain PilonGermain Pilon carved the dead back to life. Working in marble, bronze, wood, and terra cotta across the French Renaissance, Pilon built his reputation stone…
- Jean GoujonJean Goujon arrived in Paris around 1544 carrying the memory of Rouen, the north sea light of Normandy, and possibly the direct impression of Italian stone.
- Ligier RichierLigier Richier carved a standing corpse that holds its own heart. That sculpture, made from stone quarried near his hometown, still stands in a church in…
- Jean-Léon GérômeJean-Léon Gérôme was born on the 11th of May 1824 in Vesoul, a small town in the Haute-Saône region of France, and by 1880 he had become arguably the most…
- Philibert de l'OrmePhilibert de l'Orme was born in Lyon sometime between the 3rd and the 9th of June 1514, the son of a master mason who employed three hundred workers and…