CHARPENTIER, Alexandre-Louis-Marie
(b. 1856, Paris, d. 1909, Neuilly)

Biography

French sculptor, medallist and designer. After studying with the medal engraver Hubert Ponscarmé (1827-1903), he first exhibited at the Salon of 1879. His first work, at the age of 21, was a tiny medal featuring a portrait of his mother. His first significant work, exhibited in 1883, was a bas-relief, Young Woman Suckling her Child; the final version of this, in marble, was later ordered by the State (Aix-en-Provence, Musée Granet). Then, from 1893, incorporating this relief into a nursery cabinet, he started decorative works, a direction it seems he had been keen to follow.

At the end of his career, Charpentier came back to making medals, mainly for the Société des Amis de la médaille française, and to producing statuary. Unfortunately, his monumental works - Narcissus, The Happy Family, monuments to Charlet and Zola - have disappeared. Only the large relief in polychromatic stoneware Bakers, (Paris, Square Scipion, 5th arrondissement) remains.



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