Aristide Croisy

Aristide Onésime Croisy (born the March 31st 1840 with Fagnon, in the the Ardennes - deceased the November 7th 1899 with Fagnon) is a Sculpteur French.

His/her father, carrier with Fagnon, settled then in Mézières as small entrepreneur. It is there that his/her son learned the drawing, then it went to Paris where in 1856 it worked with the workshop of the All Saints' day sculptor.

In October 1857 it entered to the school of the fine arts, where he was the pupil of Armand-François All Saints' day, of Auguste Dumont and Charles Gumery, and obtained in 1863 the second Prix of Rome for its group Nysus and Euryale. In 1865 it was represented with the same contest where it obtained the first second Grand Prix for its low relief " the foundation of Marseille" , that it presented thereafter to the living room of 1867.

The catalogs of the living rooms of the company of the French artists make it possible to follow the evolution of its official career of 1867 to 1899 (successive residences, exposed works, rewards, purchases by the State). It obtains the medal of 3rd class in 1867 for a group out of plaster entitled the Invasion , model of a monument to be raised by national subscription for the of the Ardennes victims of the war of 1870-71. In 1882, it obtains the medal of 2nd class for the Nest , group of marble acquired by the State and, in 1885, that of first class for the group forming the base of the monument set up with the 2nd army of the Loire to the Mans. In 1898, it introduced to the living room a bather, statuette of bronze published by Mr. Frederic Goldscheider.

In 1876, it was in charge of the restoration, with the Château of Versailles, of the 28 stone statues of balustrade of the vault, with the number of which that of Jerome Saint carried out in 1708 by Coustou.

Its works are found a little everywhere in France and elsewhere.

In France

Visible works in museums

The museum of Allard of Montbrison, in the Loire, preserves a gracious carved group entitled the Nest , representative, deadened in an armchair, the two young children of the sculptor. It is a question of a deposit of the museum of the palate of Luxembourg (see also it site of the Ministry for the Culture).

The museum of Ardenne with Charleville-Mézières organized from October 8th to December 6th, 2005 a traditional exposition to about thirty works of Aristide Croisy preserved in his reserves, at the time of erection downtown of the reproduction of the statue of Bayard, the same artist, which had been taken by the Germans during the First World War, then recovered in 1918, and definitively melted during the Second world war. One can also quote Paolo and Francesca , characters of Dante, whose statue, like that of the Nid , exists in many specimens, of which some are always currently proposed with the sale on the specialized sites (site of the Ministry for the Culture and Rumanian site). The low relief of the foundation of Marseilles is preserved at the museum of the fine arts of this city.

Visible works on buildings

The monumental pediment of the Produce exchange of Paris, inaugurated in 1889, represents the town of Paris carved in the stone, surrounded by two other female characters, appearing the trade and abundance.

The frontage of the town hall of the XIXe district of Paris is decorated, with the height of the 1st stage of the central house of two allegories, of which that of right-hand side (on the left for the observer) represents Dhuys presented by Croisy to the living room of 1881.

Visible works in public places

Monuments

One mentions, to the cemetery of Mohon, in Charleville, fall it from the ironmaster Jean-Baptiste Brézol, with the cemetery of Dunkirk, that of the family Bleated-Leprètre. There is also in the vault of the castle of Buzancy (the Ardennes) the lying one of the Général Chanzy. In Russia, Croisy is the author of the monument of the family of the richissime industrial Ivan Charitonenko, of which it presented various elements to the living rooms of 1894 and 1897 (martyrdom, group of marble, mujik and children Russian).

Public monuments

It is advisable to mention the statue of Bayard to Charleville-Mézières, that of Méhul to Givet, of the busts such that of the Général Baker, and those of two soldiers named senators with life after 1874-75, the Général Chanzy, and of the admiral Jauréguiberry, with the Sénat.

The model of the statue of Bayard, reduced and flattened, was used by the industrialist Clément Bayard, like emblem on its cars marketed before the war of 1914-1914. This manufacturer of cars, planes and airships, whose principal factory was located at Levallois-Perret, indeed had with Charleville-Mézières a foundry of machine elements.

Croisy, near by their common of the Ardennes origins, of the Chanzy general represented this last with many recoveries: with Buzancy, residence of the general, this last is represented 3 times, in foot places town hall, into lying in the funerary vault of its old residence, which is the Chanzy college today, and in bust, with the cemetery. In Nouart, native commune of the great man, this last was statufié in foot, was capped with its bicornuate of great behavior. By adding the bust of the senate to it, that at least represents 5 portraits of the large soldier due to the chisel of Croisy.

Other inhabitants of the Ardennes celebrate were portraiturés by their compatriot: for example Edmond Cheeck of the Vines, one of the fathers of the 3rd republic, deputy then senator of the Ardennes between 1848 and 1882; Gustave Gailly, appointed then senator of the Ardennes of 1871 to 1903; Louis Tirman, born with Mézières, prefect of 1870 to 1881, then general governor of Algeria of 1881 to 1891.

In the department neighbors let us quote the statues of Camille Margaine, mayor of Holy Menehould in 1867 and appointed then senator of the Marne of 1871 to 1893, and Ernest Bradfer, mayor of Bar-le-Duc in 1879, in addition ironmaster associated with Antoine Durenne, founder of many works of Croisy.

After Guerre free-Prussian of 1870-71 place gave to various orders. One can quote the War memorial the of Sedan (see also military Patrimoine and Place of Alsace-Lorraine).

The most impressive work is undoubtedly the memorial set up in 1885 by the city of the Mans to the memory of the combatants of the 2nd army of the Loire, ordered by the Chanzy general who, in two days spite of heroic combat January 11th and 12th 1871, had to withdraw himself on Laval (see also Art & Architecture).

If the statue even of the Chanzy general, who dominates the last square of the combatants of Mans, is the work of another sculptor, the resident of Valenciennes Crauk, all the lower register is due to the talent of Aristide Croisy, which did not haggle over the number and the diversity of the bronze characters of all ages, infantrymen, riders, artillerists, “mobiles” and sailors, the ones wounded, the other valid ones, and in any case well defined to draw until the last cartridge from their weapons (chassepots model 1866, or with snuffbox, i.e. old starter rifles transformed into cylinder head weapons, revolvers model 1870). One sees there also a wounded horse with ground as well as a dumb gun and various braided gabions of wicker torn by the grapeshot. A superb officer chenu with the flowered beard, draped in the folds of the Tricolor, does not hold any weapon, but clutches himself savagely with the handle of the standard.

That represents in any step less than 14 characters, including 2 officers, that with the flag, the other provided with a modern pair of binoculars, 2 sailors, one upright and the other with ground, 2 riders, one wounded supported with the gun, the other on the horse with ground, 1 zouave, and 7 mobiles and infantrymen, including 2 with ground. Over 14,2 only are drawing, two others reload their weapons.

The structure of the monument of Mans, with a main character on pedestal, surrounded by a plank of combatants on a lower level, is not single; it is found in several other monuments of the same time, that of the mobiles of the Mouths from the Rhone in Marseilles, that of the children of the Paddle with Troyes, and that of the combatants of 1870 at the La Rochelle.

In the last square of Mans, certain characteristic characters were selected to be duplicated out of cast iron, and their figures are always drawn up in various public places of France. Initially, the old bearded officer holding his flag savagely: it is not the Chanzy general, as opposed to what indicates the remarkable descriptive card drawn up by Misters Guiochon, Tournemire, and Mrs. Lajeunie, of the regional service of the inventory of Toulouse, relating to Villefranche-with-Rouergue (that one thus finds with Villefranche-of-Rouergue, framed of two infantrymen or mobiles , and all alone on its base with Alençon, Quiévy, Montoire, Paray-le-Monial, Biarritz, Bridge-Holy-Maxence, Fauquembergues, Charms, etc).

In the second place, the “mobile” man with a moustache of ripe age with his snuffbox rifle, infantryman of the departmental battalions of the mobile national guard, with Arras, Holy-Anne-with Auray, Ceaucé, Saint-Bomer, Abbeville, Rimogne, Hesdin, Montreuil, Montauban, Choisy King, etc

Lastly, the young beardless sailor, with his chassepot, that one finds in model reduced to the museum of Sedan, or life size with Péronne (memorial of the sailor Jean Delpas, fallen on December 29th, 1870 by defending its gun baptized Fanny) and with Quimper, Berck, and perhaps still elsewhere.

These statues “in series” were produced according to the technique of the layering, in the workshops of the Parisian founder famous Durenne and their erection sometimes took place of the years after the death of their author. Thus the group of Villefranche-of-Rouergue was set up in 1909, the same year as the sailors of Fibula and Quimper…

One currently finds also trace on certain Internet sites of setting to the biddings, of small-scale models of these characters, for starting prices bordering several hundreds of euros or dollars. Thus there exist versions out of bronze, porcelain of Longwy, plaster, and also out of marble of the Nid , as of the bronze characters the such officer or the sailor. Indeed the three-dimensional pantograph invented by the engineer Achille Collas, and exploited by famous founders such Durene and Barbedienne, allowed as from 1836 the mechanical reproduction ad infinitum and on all the scales of the statues original ancient or modern, which multiplied the possibilities offered to the collectors and art lovers to acquire at reasonable price of the exact copies of many single sculptures.

Abroad

Let us recall for memory the monument of the Charitonenko family to Soumy, at the time Russian city, from now on quoted Ukrainian. Yvan Charitonenko was the richissime owner of the sugar factory local, largest and most modern of Russia. It was moreover a patron and a philanthropist, to which the local population dedicated a statue inaugurated in 1899, carved by the Russian artist Opékushine, and for which it is attested that Croisy accepted ensuperviser the execution.
For memory as, as a marble counterpart of the nest, is exposed in Spain with the museum of Asturies d' Oviedo.

We are informed of the existence out of France of at least another sculpture of Croisy, appearing the national hero costaricain Juan Santamaría, set up in 1891 with Alajuela.

has Bern, it is curious to refer to the statue of the national hero Adrian von Bubenberg, victorious of Burgundian with the Bataille of Morat. It is a work of 1897 of the Swiss sculptor max Leu (1862-1899) which in 1880-81 studied in Lyon then in Paris. It resembles much to Bayard de Charleville-Mézières, with some alternatives near: the sword is held by the right hand. At the time of a controversy in 1930 following the displacement of this statue, certain local newspapers of Bern had explicitly denied any original value to him, because it acted according to them of an imitation of the statue of Bayard exposed by Croisy to the living room of Paris in 1894.

chronological list of the work of Aristide Croisy, drawn up starting from the catalogs annual of the living room of the company of the French artists, and the indications of the following works : Bénézit: dictionary of the painters, sculptors and Grund engravers. Volume IV, PPP 109/110) Ram of Chavignerie: general dictionary of the artists of the French school of the origins until in 1882, Gallica, p 166-167) ref.: dictionary of French biography, under the direction of Novel of Amat; volume 9, p 1270-1271

1863 Second Grand Prix of Rome, for the group Nisus and Euryale

1865 First second Grand Prix for the low relief the foundation of the town of Marseilles, exposed to the living room in 1867;

living room 1867 the foundation of the town of Marseilles, low relief marble (acquired by the State, in deposit with the museum of the fine arts of Marseilles)

living room 1868 the prayer of Abel (palate of the chancellery) portrait of Mr. the Viscount of L. bust marble

living room 1869 Néréide, statue plasters portrait of Emile Augier, bust plasters

living room 1870 the prayer of Abel, rules bronze, (ministry for the fine arts) Given up Psyché, statue plasters

living room 1873 the invasion, groups plaster, project of monuments to the victims of 1870-71 in the Ardennes, 3rd medal

living room 1875 portrait of Mr. Lacaille, lawyer, bust bronzes

living room 1876 portrait of Mr. Toupet of the Vines, senator, bust bronzes Paul Malatesta and Francoise de Rimini, group plaster, re-exposed in 1878 (museum of Charleville)

World Fair 1876 the harvester, rules plaster portrait of the general chanzy, bust marble

living room 1877 portrait of Mr. Gailly, deputy, bust marble portrait Mr. H. Perrin, bust plasters

living room 1878 the rest, rules plaster Paul Malatesta and Francoise de Rimini, group marble living room 1879 the girl with the grapes, rules plaster portrait of M.H., bust marble

living room 1880 a nest, groups plaster portrait of Mr. L. Détroyat, bust terra cotta

living room 1881 Dhuys, appears allegorical, stone statue (town hall of XIXe, Paris) portrait of Mr. Doctor Philbert, bust terra cotta

living room 1882

the nest, groups marble (medal of 2nd class; museum of Luxembourg portrait of Mrs. P.J., marble bust

living room 1883 the general chanzy on his bed of death, rules plaster Ernest Bradfer, statue plasters (model of the bronze statue to be set up in Bar-le-Duc)

living room 1885 the army of the Loire (medal of 1st class), group of bronze set up in Mans the same year

living room 1886 the Chanzy general, bronze statue, in front of being set up in Nouart, the Ardennes

living room 1887 portrait of the admiral Jauréguiberry; bust marble portrait of the general Baker, Minister for the war, bust marble

living room 1888 portrait of Mr. Tirman, general governor of Algeria, bust marble

1889

statues of Mercury and peace and the harmony,

pediment and statues of the produce exchange of Paris

living room 1890 Méhul, statue bronzes for the town of Givet Mrs. Mr. bust marble

living room 1891 two angels groups funerary marble (for Mr. Charitonenko in Moscow)

1891 Monument of the national hero of Costa-Rica, Juan Santamaria, set up in Alajuela

1893 rule out of bronze of Bayard, in Charleville-Mézières

living room 1894 martyrdom, marble group (intended for the decoration of a tomb to Russia) the load of the hunters of Africa at… on September 1st, 1870, low-relief plasters (belonging to memorial to set up in Sedan).

living room 1895 memorial having to be high in Sedan with the memory of the dead soldiers for the fatherland 1° for the fatherland, groups bronze 2° defense of the bridge of Bazeilles (August 1st, 1870), low-relief, bronzes Mr. Margaine, former questeur of the Senate, bust marble

living room 1897 Russian mujik and children; group plaster (formant base of the monument set up in Russia, with the memory of Charitonenko) the general of Boisdeffre, statuette bronzes

living room 1898

bather, statuette bronzes (Mr. Frederic Goldscheider editor).

1899 - In Russia, after having carved the monument of the family of the industrial richissime and Russian patron Yvan Charitonenko, in the town of Sumy, actullement in Ukraine, Aristide Croisy supervised, in the all last months of its life, work of the Russian sculptor Alexandre Opekushin, more known for its statues of Pouchkine to Moscow and Saint Petersbourg, for the realization of the monumental statue set up by public subscription on October 1st, 1899, always in Sumy, in homage to the same Yvan Charitonenko.

Not specified dates

- statue of Niedermeyer, type-setter and famous organist

- allegory of architecture, court of the vieuxLouvre

- Restoration of the sculptures external of the vault of the palate of Versailles,

- bust of Philippotaux, deputy

- 3 clay outlines, entitled Maternity, Orphée and Fugit amor presented on Internet site of the RNM

- bronze bust of the pope Leon XIII

- Monuments Brézol with Mohon, the Ardennes and Bellais- the Priest in Dunkirk, and lying out of bronze of the Chanzy general in Buzency (after 1883, where its plaster model was exposed to living room).

- works preserved at the museum of Ardenne (medallions, etc, of which the self-portrait of the artist).

reductions and counterparts The monument of Mans to the 2nd army of the Loire, set up in 1885, presents a gallery of soldiers who were used then as prototypes for many war memorials of France and of Navarre.

The molten counterparts life size of certain characters are found a little everywhere on monuments set up sometimes 10 years after the death of the artist. Three types dominate: the mobile, the officer, and the sailor.

Small-scale models were also published out of bronze, and one continues to find on the market of the art of the statuettes of the “patriot”, alternative rejeunie of the officer draped in the folds of the Tricolor, or of the young mobile and his neighbor the Royal marine, both loans to sell their skin dearly. There exists also a version of the Royal marine, the weapon with the foot.

In a more peaceful register, the nest made the object of many counterparts out of bronze or enmarbre, like that of Museo de Asturias d' Oviedo, entitled quite naturally “el nido”.

The Base Mistral of the ministry for the culture includes/understands 34 cards relating to the works of Croisy bought by the State or having profited from State grants. These cards mention the dates and discharge points of these sculptures.

Le Figaro of November 8th, 1899 (accessible on Gallica) announced death of Croisy in the following terms: " We learn death: … - of. Mr. Aristide Croissy (sic), sculptor, deceased at the 59 years age. Raise of All Saints' day, it obtained in 1863 the second Grand Prix of Rome. Its works always were very noticed in Salon.Citons in particular Néréide, Psyché, the project of monument the Invasion, which was worth a medal to him; the group of Paolo Malatesta and Francoise de Rimini, the girl with the grapes, the allegorical figure Dhuys and the Nest, which is in Luxembourg. It is him which was charged with the monument set up by subscription, on one of the places of Mans, with the memory of the army of the Loire and of most heroic of its chiefs, the Chanzy general. One owes in Croissy a great number of bronze busts or marble among which those of Emile Augier, E. Perrin, of the senator Gailly, Tirman; restoration of the sculptures of the castle of Versailles, the monument raised by subscription for Sumy, in Russia, with the memory of Mr. Kharitonenko, a large industrialist. Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, it had had a medal of second class to the Living room of 1882 and one first medal in 1885".

Aristide Croisy today

The production of Aristide Croisy makes it possible certainly to realize of the fruitfulness of an artist of second plan, but of an unquestionable talent whose production, especially at the end of its career, was strongly related to the public order.

In this respect, one can refer to work of a group chaired by France Debuisson and various specialists in the museum of Orsay and the national institute of history of the art which, under the national aegis of the minister of education, listed and indexed on numerical support, images with the support, 5.500 monuments set up before the Second world war, 2.000 characters represented, 1.500 sculptors, under the title With our great men . These documents are available in the form of two CD-ROMs to the Musée of Orsay. One can read there:

The deep transformations of the cities allow an expansion of sculptures: the destruction of the old ramparts, the modernization of transport, the distribution of water, the installation of grand boulevards are as many occasions to decorate the places and the gardens, Partout the sculpture punctuates space, the wars of 1870 then of 1914-1918 involve the construction of thousands of war memorials, nature itself invites to the meditation around statues which appear to the walker like a dream, Between 1900 and 1910, an inauguration per week!

Artists like Falguière, Mercié, Chapu have a celebrity such as the orders of monument come to them from whole France. Others were illustrated everywhere in the statue with the great man because they find in this kind a correspondence with their own ideals: David of Angers and Bartholdi are enthusiastic republicans. With the turning of 1900, Maillol, Bourdelle or Landowski, considered as the principal figures of the modern sculpture, have immense will have, Croisy, Benêt or Pourquet, much less known, have nevertheless works on all the territory, because of the diffusion of the models by the edition, the figures of the soldiers, most popular, are the subject of tens of counterparts for the war memorials.

Internal bonds

----

Random links: