Curated playlist
French male sculptors
- Pierre BontempsA marble tomb sat in a French garden until 1936, when it proved to be by Pierre Bontemps.
- Edgar DegasEdgar Degas showed only one sculpture in his lifetime. After he died, heirs found 150 wax figures in his studio.
- Michel ColombeEvery work we can place by sculptor Michel Colombe dates from his extreme old age.
- Henri MatisseHenri Matisse did not pick up a paintbrush until he was nineteen. He had been trained as a lawyer.
- Marcel DuchampIn 1917, Marcel Duchamp submitted a signed urinal to a New York show, and the committee turned it away.
- Paul GauguinPaul Gauguin was a stockbroker who painted only on weekends. A 1882 market crash pushed him toward full-time art.
- Auguste RodinSculptor Auguste Rodin was accused of cheating with a cast of a living man. A committee of sculptors cleared him.
- Germain PilonCatherine de' Medici reportedly fainted at sculptor Germain Pilon's carved figures of the dead.
- Jean GoujonSculptor Jean Goujon carved for the king, then fled France in 1562. He was a Huguenot, a French Protestant.
- Ligier RichierLigier Richier carved a standing corpse that holds its own heart. The flayed figure is in a church in Bar-le-Duc.
- Jean-Léon GérômeJean-Léon Gérôme taught more than 2,000 students, including Mary Cassatt and Thomas Eakins.
- Philibert de l'OrmeTwo days after King Henry II died in 1559, architect Philibert de l'Orme was fired.