Alexandre Descatoire (22 August 1874 – 7 March 1949) was a French sculptor.

Biography

Descatoire was born in

Douai Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, D ...

and was a pupil of André-Louis-Adolphe Laoust. Educated at the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

in Paris, Descatoire was runner up for the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

of 1902. Much of his work is war memorials. One of the best known is at Douai, inaugurated on 23 July 1927. A central bas-relief represents the ''Victory of the Lion of Flanders'', flanked by a crossbowman and a machine gunner. The monument was damaged during bombing on 11 August 1944 but has been restored. The inclusion of a crossbowman refers back to another dramatic episode in Douaisian history, the

Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle The Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle (or Pevelenberg) was fought on 18 August 1304 between the French and the Flemish. The French were led by their king, Philip IV. Prelude The French king wanted revenge for the defeat in Battle of the Golden Spu ...

in 1324, when 600 citizens of Douai lost their lives. Other works by Descatoire include: * The work "''Soldat Du Droit''" at the Douaumont ossuary, circa 1932 * The monument to Mayor Gustave Dron in

Tourcoing Tourcoing (; nl, Toerkonje ; vls, Terkoeje; pcd, Tourco) is a city in northern France on the Belgian border. It is designated municipally as a Communes of France, commune within the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), ...

, with architect Édouard Monestès, 1935 * the monument ''Au Pigeon voyageur'', dedicated to the work of carrier pigeons in World War I, with architect Jacques Alleman, Lille, 1936 * ''La Jeunesse'', one of the eight gilded figures on the

Palais de Chaillot The Palais de Chaillot () is a building at the top of the in the Trocadéro area in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th ''arrondissement'' of Paris, France. For the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937) ...

, Paris, 1937 * The monument aux morts at

Roubaix Roubaix ( or ; nl, Robaais; vls, Roboais) is a city in northern France, located in the Lille metropolitan area on the Belgian border. It is a historically mono-industrial commune in the Nord department, which grew rapidly in the 19th century ...

* The monument aux morts at

Créteil Créteil () is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Créteil is the ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-de-Marne department as well as the seat of the Arrondissement of Cré ...

in the Val-de-Marne. This was inaugurated on 1 November 1922. The monument stands in the avenue du Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny. * ''The Death of Abel'', now at the

Musée de la Chartreuse de Douai The Musée de la Chartreuse is an art museum in a former Carthusian monastery in Douai, France. It is the 'musée des Beaux-Arts' for the city. Building Built by Jacques d'Abancourt in brick and stone in the Renaissance style, on the site of ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Descatoire, Alexandre 1874 births 1949 deaths People from Douai 20th-century French sculptors French male sculptors