LUCIENNE ANTOINETTE HEUVELMANS(Paris, 1881 - 1944). "Bacchus... Lot 17

LUCIENNE ANTOINETTE HEUVELMANS(Paris, 1881 - 1944). "Bacchus child", c. 1930. Blued bronze. Presents Colin/Paris foundry stamp. Signed. Measurements: 43 x 48 x 23 cm. This work was edited from the original in plaster made by Heuvelmans in 1928. French sculptor, painter and illustrator active between the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, Lucienne Heuvelmans was the daughter of a designer and artistic cabinetmaker and a dressmaker, both of Belgian origin. She began her training by taking evening courses in sculpture, and then went on to the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, where her teachers were Laurent Marqueste, Emmauel Hannaux and Denys Puech. In 1922 she became the first woman to obtain the Grand Prix de Rome, which allowed her to further her training in the Italian capital, where she stayed at the Villa Medici between 1912 and 1914. Upon her return to France, she began her teaching career as a drawing teacher at the Écoles de la Ville de Paris. At the same time, she began to make her work known by participating regularly in the Salons des Artistes Français held in Paris, where she had already been awarded an honorable mention in 1907, before her trip to Italy. In 1921 she was again awarded a bronze medal. She also participated in the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs held at the Grand Palais in Paris between 1926 and 1933. She also collaborated with the Manufacture de Sèvres between 1924 and 1926, and that last year she was distinguished with the insignia of Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. During this period she also carried out an important commission for the Villa de Paris for the gardens of its pavilion at the 1925 International Exhibition of Decorative Arts, the monumental stone group "Illusions and Sorrow". However, in previous years he had already carried out other official commissions, such as the "Pax Armata", a marble commissioned by the State for the Navy Museum (1917), or the marble bust of "Albert de Mun", also commissioned by the State, in this case for the National Assembly of France (1923). In the early 1930s, however, Heuvelmans left the busy Parisian life to settle in the Breton town of Saint-Cast-le-Guildo, leaving behind decorative works to focus on religious and mythological themes, with works such as "Saint Therese with open arms under a shower of roses" (1930), for the church of Pleurtuit. Although she was mainly recognized for her work as a sculptor, her works being widely disseminated through medium-sized bronze pieces, she also made illustrations for various poetic works. Lucienne Heuvelmans' works are currently kept at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the Cercle Militaire in the same city, the National Assembly of France and other public and private collections.