Henri Laurens

Henri Laurens was a French sculptor and illustrator.

Later Laurens was drawn to a new gathering of artistic creativity in Montparnasse. From 1915, he began to sculpt in the Cubist style after meeting Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Gris and Fernand Léger.

Laurens was exempted from call-up for the First World War, after having a leg amputated in 1909 due to osteo-tuberculosis.

Multi-talented, Laurens worked with poster paint, and collage. He was an engraver, and created theatre design and decoration. In 1915, he illustrated a book for his friend, the author Pierre Reverdy.

In 1937, he was awarded the Helena Rubinstein Prize, which brought him in additional commissions. In 1938, he shared an exhibition with Braque and Picasso that travelled to major Scandinavian cities. In 1947, he made prints for book illustrations. In 1948, he exhibited his art at the important international Venice Biennale. That same year, he exhibited at the Galerie d'Art Moderne in Basel, Switzerland.

Many of his sculptures are massive objects. An example of this style is the monumental piece L'Amphion, which he first designed on a smaller scale before created the final version in 1952 for the Central University of Venezuela, Caracas, after a request from the architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva.

Laurens' sculptural work influenced the work of architect Jørn Utzon, famous for the Sydney Opera House, in particular Laurens' tomb for an aviator designed for the cemetery of Montparnasse, Paris, in 1924.

Text courtesy of Wikipedia, 2023