Sports and leisure activities sculpted by Bouchard

13th October 2001 - 13th March 2002

En général de petite taille, les sculptures regroupées dans cette exposition sur le thème des sports et loisirs sont des statuettes, bas-reliefs, médaillons ou médailles en bronze ou directement des plâtres originaux.

Black runner H : 0.16 m (7 inches) (1924)

Henri Bouchard (1875-1960) liked to represent men or animals in their everyday life, be it at work or engaged in other activities. Sport can, of course, become a profession, but for most people it is a way to relax after time spent working.

Whether it be for exhibitions or for artistic competitions, for sporting events or just for his personal satisfaction, he repeatedly modelled different sports as well as activities such as dance, horse riding, flower picking, the arts or music.

Bouchard was attracted by horses and in 1906 was particularly interested by the work of Etienne-Jules Marey a scientist whose photographic gun had captured and segmented the animal's movements.
The artist produced the low-relief Horse Race in which each horse is in a different phase of the gallop, an unknown phenomena until these pictures were taken.
Later he created a medal for the Society of the Stirrups, (Le Cercle de l'Etrier).

 

In 1923, the artist received an order from André Citroën who wished to celebrate a previously unheard of feat, the “First Crossing of the Sahara in an Automobile”, which had been the subject of little publicity, for had the project failed he would have lost face.
Monuments, trophies and a Citroën Rally medal were therefore created by Bouchard for the pioneers that are mentioned here.

In this exhibition, a little known aspect of Bouchard's work will be shown which helps to emphasise the diversity of the subjects he worked on.
Sports and leisure activities allowed him to observe aspects of the lives of his contemporaries which contrast to that which has previously been shown in the museum's permanent exhibition : the artist's studio.