Armand Martial

ARMAND MARTIAL (France, 1884-1960).
"La liberté".
Patinated bronze.
Signed and foundry stamp.
Marble base.
Measurements: 54 cm.(sculpture height); 59 cm.(height with base); 6 x 10 x 10 cm.(base).

Armand Martial was a French sculptor, born in Paris. He was a student at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in his native city. In 1913, at the age of 27, he won the prestigious Prix de Rome in sculpture, with the plaster relief entitled Bucolic Singers (Chanteurs bucoliques). This allowed him to remain in the Italian capital as a pensioner, attending courses at the French Academy in Rome. Armand Martial was admitted to the Villa Medici in Rome in 1914, during the First World War, where he was seriously wounded that same year. Father of Cecile Martial, who followed in his artistic footsteps and of whom he was a teacher at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts. Around 1936, he prepared in wood a life-size replica of the equestrian monument of King Albert of Belgium. The idea was to show Parisians the effect of the sculpture before it was cast in metal. The statue was erected in bronze in 1938 on the Cours la Reine, next to the Place de la Concorde in Paris and was saved from being melted down during the Occupation of Paris by the Nazis in World War II, something that did not happen to many other monuments of which only the pedestal remained. He participated in a Colonial Exposition, presenting three sculptures of the allegories of the continents. These sculptures were installed after World War II on the main facade of the Le Bourget Airport building, replacing a series of shields. In 1951 he occupied Armchair No. 5 of the Sculpture section as a member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris. He died in 1960, and his seat at the academy was then occupied by Alfred Auguste Janniot. For the occasion, Albert Janniot himself presented a text entitled "News on the life and works of Armand Martial: 1994-1960".