Nationality French Occupation Sculptor | Name Henri Lagriffoul | |
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Born 9 May 1907 ( 1907-05-09 ) Paris Known for "Marianne" on French coins Died 1981, Boulogne-Billancourt, France | ||
Henri-Albert Lagriffoul (9 May 1907 – 22 August 1981) was a French sculptor who won the Prix de Rome in 1932. His work is displayed in many public spaces in France. His head of "Marianne" appeared on the French coins from 1962–66. He also competed in the art competitions at the 1948 Summer Olympics.
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Life
Lagriffoul was born in Paris in 1907. His father ran a goldsmith workshop. He was admitted to the studio of sculptors Jules Coutan and Paul Landowski at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1924–25. Lagriffoul assisted Landowski with the statue of Christ the Redeemer at Corcovado, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil between 1926–31. He won the Prix de Rome for sculpture in 1932 and spent three years at the Villa Médicis in Rome.
Lagriffoul was appointed professor at the École des Beaux-arts, Paris in 1944. He became a member of the advisory council for the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres. He made four sculpture for Sèvres between 1949 and 1955, including a table centerpiece and two ornamented vases. From 1959 he was professor of sculpture at the École polytechnique. He died in 1981.
Work
Chavignon's war memorial has sculptures by Lagriffoul from 1933. There are two bas-reliefs on the monument, one depicting a soldier holding an antique sword and the other a woman carrying her child and a sheaf of wheat. A sculpture by Lagriffoul decorates the north facade of the Collège mixte de Lens, avenue Raoul-Brique, Pas-de-Calais, made in August–September 1958. He created a sculpture representing deportees to concentration and extermination camps for the Mémorial de la France combattante in Mont-Valérien, inaugurated in 1960. It depicts emaciated hands trying to pull away the barbed wire that lacerates a tortured heart. He created the head of "Marianne" that appeared on coins of 5, 10, 20 and 50 centimes from 1962–66.
Some other major works include:
Awards
Lagriffoul received the following awards: