Pierre Félix Masseau (17 March 1869, in Lyon – 14 April 1937, in Paris), known professionally as Fix-Masseau. He was a noted

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

sculptor and father of

poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...

artist Pierre Fix-Masseau with whom he is sometimes confused with. Fix-Masseau was born in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

. He studied sculpture in

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

, then in

as a student of Charles Dufraine, continuing his studies at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

under the supervision of Gabriel Jules Thomas. In 1897 he was awarded the

Prix de Paris Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell (American ...

which allowed him to travel to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, and also to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

(eight months in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

). Fix-Masseau set up his workshop in Paris where he attracted the admiration of

Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

. The latter was unable to convince him to join his studio. The quality of his sculptures was noticed during the salons of the society of fine arts at the end of the 19th century. It made him a recognized and respected artist by his style and his technical mastery in various material bronze, original patinas, wood, glass, and stone ware. His early art was part of the

Symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sy ...

movement, a precursor of the

art nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

with often feminine themes. An original character of his (a "Mephistophelian" look), being almost reclusive in his art, Fix-Masseau is the very image of the total artist, mystical, focussed and concentrated. The 1890s and the 1900s were his most creative phase. In the 1890s he created some of his most notable art works. In 1894 ''Le Sécret'' a tall female mystical figure, holding up a box, her face receded almost behind it, like her naked body under a half opened coat. The figure is now at the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

, copies exist in bronze. From the same year is ''L'emprise'', which was first presented as in plaster at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1894. It shows a young woman as a personification of the human soul appearing to be haunted by five heads personifying passions: lust, anger, greed, attachment, and vanity. Both bronzes became key works of the Symbolism movement. He is also well known for his portraits as busts or masks, in bronze, marble, plaster, and ceramic. They are characterized by lively sculpted surface, close to Rodin's style. Most noticeable is his bust of Beethoven, 1902. The original bronze is housed in the Beethoven House in Bonn. He worked in different styles and media. In his paintings, he experimented successfully with impressionism. Most notably is his "Aprés le dejeuner", depicting a mother and a child sitting in a sun-lit garden. Most of his known paintings, however, are decorative stilllifes of flowers, vases, and hunting prey. He formed part of the French decorative art movement, the arts decoratifs, creating numerous decorative objects in various positions holding different attributes. These decorative items graced many livings rooms of the well-to-do at the time. Less known is his co-operation with ceramists, such as

Alexandre Bigot Alexandre Bigot (5 November 1862 – 27 April 1927) was a French ceramicist. He was primarily a ceramics manufacturer, producing the designs of many artists and architects of the French Art Nouveau movement, including: Jules Lavirotte, Hector G ...

(1862-1927) and

Edmond Lachenal Edmond Lachenal (3 June 1855 – 10 June 1948) was a French potter. He was a key figure in the French art pottery movement,Sullivan, Elizabeth, "French Art Pottery", In ''Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History'', The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014onl ...

(1855-1848). Fix-Masseau created also vases (pewter), plates (stoneware), clocks (with F. Barbedienne), and chandeliers in the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

style, exhibited numerous works at the

Salon des Artistes Francais The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

and the

Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (SNBA; ; en, National Society of Fine Arts) was the term under which two groups of French artists united, the first for some exhibitions in the early 1860s, the second since 1890 for annual exhibitions. 1862 Es ...

. At Herqueville, his residence outside Paris in the

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, he befriended Louis Renault, the famous car engineer and pioneering entrepreneur. After the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Fix-Masseau was the first sculptor to create a celebratory statuette of a tank, the Renault F 17, highlighting the age of the machines in war, which was previously only allegorized with male nudes with swords and classizizing depictions of the female Victoria. Since 1908 until 1935, he served as director of the École Nationale d'Art Décoratif in

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

, and was appointed curator at the Musée Adrien Dubouché. In 1926, he was made an officer of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. Between 1904 and 1920 he was a member of the Societé des artistes français. His style changed after WWI to the more austere and reductionist forms of the

art déco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

in difference to his earlier works in exuberant Art Nouveau. While still producing high quality works, he lost his avant-garde status. In his later years, he produced a number of masks and busts for

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

and

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...

, as well as numerous medals mostly as commissions for notable Parisian physicians of his time. His works are found among other institutions in the

, in the

Petit Palais The Petit Palais (; en, Small Palace) is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle ("universal exhibition"), it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts (''Musée des beaux-arts ...

in Paris, in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon and in the

Albertinum The Albertinum () is a modern art museum. The sandstone-clad Renaissance Revival building is located on Brühl's Terrace in the historic center of Dresden, Germany. It is named after King Albert of Saxony. The Albertinum hosts the New Masters G ...

in Dresden.

Selected works

** ''Le Secret'', 1894, 76x 17,5 cm x 18 c, statuette of mahogany, ivory, bronze cast at Siot-Decauville foundry ** ''Masque d' Edmond Lachenal'', 1890, terra cotta, Paris (1982 gifted by the son of Pierre Fix-Masseau) ** ''Réflexion'', 1900, bronze mask ** ''Buste de Jan Van Herwijnen'', 1924, marble ** Restoration and cast of the 36 busts of the ''Célébrités du Juste millieu'' by

Honoré Daumier Honoré-Victorin Daumier (; February 26, 1808February 10, 1879) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the second N ...

, 1927 ** ''Intérieur'', oil painting, 61.5x50.5 cm * Elsewhere ** ''Buste de

'', 1936,

Jardin du Luxembourg The Jardin du Luxembourg (), known in English as the Luxembourg Garden, colloquially referred to as the Jardin du Sénat (Senate Garden), is located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. Creation of the garden began in 1612 when Marie de' ...

** ''Buste d' Auguste Delaherche'';

Beauvais Beauvais ( , ; pcd, Bieuvais) is a city and commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise département, in the Hauts-de-France region, north of Paris. The commune of Beauvais had a population of 56,020 , making it the most populous ...

Musée départemental de l'Oise The ''Musée départemental de l'Oise'' (MUDO, Museum of the Oise Department) is a museum in the former bishop's palace in Beauvais, Oise, in northern France. It is classified as a historical monument. Building history The museum is housed in th ...

** ''Buste d'

Anna de Noailles Anna, Comtesse Mathieu de Noailles (Anna Elisabeth Bibesco-Bassaraba de Brancovan) (15 November 1876 – 30 April 1933) was a French writer of Romanian and Greek descent, a poet and a socialist feminist. Biography Personal life Born Princess ...

'' ** ''Méditation - Monsieur le Penseur'';

, Musée des Beaux-Arts ** ''

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

'', 1902, bronze bust, since October 2001 placed in the courtyard of the Beethoven Haus „Im Mohren“, Bonngasse 18,

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

** ''Renault Tank'' type FT17, before 1922, bronze, 20 cm * Medals ** ''Medal for

Henri Albert Hartmann Henri Albert Hartmann (16 June 1860 – 1 January 1952) was a French surgeon. He wrote numerous papers on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from war injuries to shoulder dislocations to gastrointestinal cancer. Hartmann is best known for Hartman ...

'', professor at the Hopital Bichat 1909 ** ''Medal for Paul Lecène'' ** ''Medal for Henri Bourgeois'' ** ''Medal for Jules Auclair'' ** ''Medal for Louis Dupuy-Dutemps'' ** ''Medal for

'' ** ''Medal for

Gallery

Beethfix.jpg,

, Fix-Masseau 1902, Bonn, in the house „Im Mohren“, Bonngasse 18 Fix-Masseau - Jeanne Hatto.jpg, upalt=Jeanne Hatto sculpture Fix-Masseau,

Jeanne Hatto Jeanne Hatto (30 January 1879 – 26 March 1958) was a French operatic soprano. Biography Hatto was born in Saint-Amour-Bellevue in Burgundy in 1879, and studied in Lyon and at the Conservatoire de Paris under Victor Warot. She made her ...

sculpture Fix-Masseau, 1907 Fix-Masseau - Apachina.jpg, upalt=Apachina sculpture Fix-Masseau, Apachina sculpture Fix-Masseau, 1906 Fix-Masseau - Petite fille d'Eve.jpg, upalt=Petite fille d'Eve sculpture Fix-Masseau, Petite fille d'Eve sculpture Fix-Masseau, 1907 Fix Masseau Femme s'essuyant.jpg, upalt=Femme s'essuyant sculpture Fix-Masseau, Femme s'essuyant sculpture Fix-Masseau, 1905 File:Buste d'Armand Rassenfosse by Pierre-Félix Masseau (1).jpg, ''Monument for

Armand Rassenfosse Armand Rassenfosse (6 August 1862 – 28 January 1934) was a largely self-taught Belgian graphic artist, book illustrator and painter. His masterwork was a set of illustrations for Charles Baudelaire's ''Les Fleurs du mal''. Early years Armand Ra ...

'' (1934),

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

. File:Charles Beaudelaire by Pierre-Félix Masseau, 11 October 2006.jpg, ''Monument for

'' (1936),

jardin du Luxembourg The Jardin du Luxembourg (), known in English as the Luxembourg Garden, colloquially referred to as the Jardin du Sénat (Senate Garden), is located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. Creation of the garden began in 1612 when Marie de' ...

References

* Elmar Stolpe: Fix-Masseau. In: Saur Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon. Band 41. Saur, München/Leipzig 2004, pp. 15–16. * Emmanuel Bénézit, ''Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays'', Paris: Librairie Gründ, 1923-4 and 1976.
European Art Gallery entry

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Masseau, Pierre Felix 1869 births 1937 deaths Art Nouveau sculptors Sculptors from Lyon 20th-century French sculptors 19th-century French sculptors French male sculptors 19th-century French male artists