Henri Bouchard

HENRI BOUCHARD (Dijon, 1875- Paris, 1960).
"Maternity".
Marble.
Signed.
Measurements: 26 x 63 x 22 cm.

In this exquisite marble sculpture Henri Bouchard gives us the gentler side of motherhood. The protagonist, a mother who looks at her little one in an affectionate and tender attitude, withdraws on the floor in an agile and resolute posture. The little one collects on himself while looking at his mother with an innocent gesture.

Sculptor Henri Bouchard trained at the Académie Julian and in the studio of Louis-Ernest Barrias before entering the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He won the Prix de Rome in 1901. His work was part of the sculpture competition for the 1924 Summer Olympics. In November 1941, Bouchard was one of the French painters and sculptors who accepted an official invitation from Joseph Goebbels for a grand tour of Nazi Germany. He left an important legacy of more than 1,000 works (including bronze castings, stone sculptures and original plaster works) that was kept at the Bouchard Museum in Paris from 1962 to 2007. Among the most significant works was the great figure of Apollo, which was exhibited at the Palais de Chaillot. When the museum closed the great artistic heritage was not dispersed, but was transferred to the Musée de La Piscine in Roubaix. Some of his works can be found in public places in Paris.