Louise Ochsé (13 June 1884 – 1 August 1944) was a Franco-Belgian sculptor born in the suburbs of

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium, at the end of the 19th century. Initially she studied under

Constantin Meunier Constantin Meunier (; 12 April 1831 – 4 April 1905) was a Belgian Painting, painter and sculpture, sculptor. He made an important contribution to the development of modern art by elevating the image of the industrial worker, docker and mi ...

. She moved to Paris and exhibited her works at the Salon de la

Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (SNBA; ; ) 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 Established in 1862 by the painter a ...

between 1905 and 1914 and at the Salon de

la Libre Esthétique ''La Libre Esthétique'' ( French; "The Free Aesthetics") was an artistic society founded in 1893 in Brussels, Belgium to continue the efforts of the artists' group '' Les XX'' dissolved the same year. To reduce conflicts between artists invited o ...

from 1906 to 1912. On the occasion of her exhibit at the Galerie Boutet de Monvel in 1912, the poet and writer

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire (; ; born Kostrowicki; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist and art critic of Poland, Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the ...

praised her work. Examples of her art include a bust of

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

which now is exhibited at the composer Maurice Ravel museum in the town of Montfort-L'Amaury, outside of Paris, and a bronze mask of composer

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

which was exhibited at the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

October 2008 to February 2009. A bronze plaque entitled ''Challenge de Gramont'' is on display at the

Fogg Museum The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

. She was the granddaughter of Elie Aristide Astruc and niece of

Gabriel Astruc Gabriel Astruc (14 March 1864 – 7 July 1938) was a French journalist, agent, promoter, theatre manager, theatrical impresario, and playwright whose career connects many of the best-known incidents and personalities of Belle Epoque Paris. He was ...

, journalist, impresario and founder of the

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées () is an entertainment venue standing at 15 avenue Montaigne in Paris. It is situated near Avenue des Champs-Élysées, from which it takes its name. Its eponymous main hall may seat up to 1,905 people, while th ...

. In 1906, Ochse married the French poet and writer Julien Ochsé, recipient of the Prix Davaine of the

Académie Française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. In 1912, she served as a model for her brother-in-law, the French illustrator known as "Drian". Following the death of her husband in 1936, she married her brother-in-law,

Fernand Ochsé Fernand Ochsé (January 11, 1879 in Paris – August 1944 in r on his way toAuschwitz concentration camp, Auschwitz) was a French Jewish designer, dandy, author, composer, painter and art collector. Life Fernand Ochsé came from a family ...

, a multi-talented decorator, theater set designer, composer and painter, and close friend of other artists such French violinist

Henri Casadesus Henri-Gustave Casadesus (30 September 1879 – 31 May 1947) was a violist, viola d'amore player, composer, and music publisher. Early life Born in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, Casadesus received his early musical instruction with Albert L ...

and well-known composers

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss-French composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Honegger was a member of Les Six. For Halbreich, '' Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' is "more even ...

, Maurice Ravel and

Reynaldo Hahn Reynaldo Hahn de Echenagucia (9 August 1874 – 28 January 1947) was a Venezuelan-born French composer, conductor, music critic, and singer. He is best known for his songs – ''mélodies'' – of which he wrote more than 100. Hahn was born ...

. Louise and Fernand Ochsé were arrested by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

in July 1944 in Cannes where they were in hiding. Both were deported to

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

from

Drancy internment camp Drancy internment camp () was an assembly and detention camp for confining Jews who were later deported to the extermination camps during the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, German occupation of France duri ...

on 31 July 1944. Their last permanent residence was in Paris at 7, rue de L'Estrapade.

References

Further reading