2001:8B0:A7C:DF99:F90B:8CB3:70D0:5F1E: /* Early life */

2025-03-12T11:07:13Z

Early life

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{{Short description|French sculptor (1838–1902)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Jules Dalou
| image = Dalou dans son atelier.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| caption = Jules Dalou in his studio, 1899
| birth_name = Aimé-Jules Dalou
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1838|12|31}}
| birth_place = [[Paris]], France
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1902|04|15|1838|12|31}}
| death_place = Paris, France
| nationality = French
| known_for = [[Sculpture]]
| training = [[École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts]]
| movement = [[New Sculpture]]
| awards = Commander of the [[Légion d'Honneur]]
| notable_works = ''The Triumph of the Republic'', 1899 
''The Triumph of Silenus'', 1885 
''Monument to Eugène Delacroix'', 1890 
''The Tomb of [[Victor Noir]]'', 1890
}}

'''Aimé-Jules Dalou''' ({{IPA|fr|ɛme ʒyl dalu}}; 31 December 1838{{snd}}15 April 1902) was a 19th-century French [[sculpture|sculptor]], admired for his perceptiveness, execution, and unpretentious realism.

==Early life==
Born in Paris to a working-class family of Huguenot background, he was raised in an atmosphere of secularity and Republican socialism. He was the pupil of [[Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux]], who sponsored him for the Petite École (future [[École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs]]), where he sympathized with [[Alphonse Legros]] and [[Fantin-Latour]].<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Maurice Dreyfous, ''Dalou, sa vie et son œuvre'', Paris, Laurens, 1903, p. 3 [https://archive.org/stream/dalousavieetsono00dreyuoft#page/2/mode/2up (Online)]</ref>

In 1854, he attended the [[École des Beaux-Arts de Paris]] in the [[François-Joseph Duret]] classroom. He combined the vivacity and richness of Carpeaux, for "he was, technically, one of the most distinguished modellers of his time",<ref>Kenneth Romney Towndrow, "A Note on the Portrait Busts of Jules Dalou" ''The Burlington Magazine'' '''90''' No. 545 (August 1948, pp. 234-235) p 234.</ref> with the academic insistence on harmonious outlines and scholarly familiarity with the work of [[Giambologna]], [[Pierre Puget]], [[Peter Paul Rubens]] and others.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

[[Image:Dalou-Republique-2.jpg|thumb|left|170px|Detail of the ''Triumph of the Republic'', 1899, [[Place de la Nation]], Paris]]

==Career==
{{More citations needed|section|date=November 2022}}
Dalou first exhibited at the [[Paris Salon]] in 1861,<ref>{{in lang|fr}} [[Henriette Caillaux]], ''Aimé-Jules Dalou, L'homme - L'œuvre'', Paris, Delagrave, 1935, p. 124, although Chisholm 1911 puts this at 1867.</ref>{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} but he made no secret of his working-class sympathies. His politics obstructed his career under the [[French Second Empire|Second Empire]]: he was repeatedly refused the [[Prix de Rome]] that opened sculptors' careers to future official commissions. He started to work for decorators, and through this work met [[Auguste Rodin]] and began their friendship.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} [[Gustave Coquiot]], ''Rodin à l'Hôtel de Biron et à Meudon'', Ollendorff, Paris, 1917, p. 109.[https://archive.org/stream/rodinlhteldebi00coquuoft#page/n181/mode/2up (Online)]</ref>

He made a quiet living providing decorative sculpture for the structures that lined Paris's new boulevards and providing wax models for jewelry. He married Irma Vuillier, a partnership that sustained him throughout his life. They had one daughter, Georgette, who was mentally handicapped and required constant care. Dalou's ''Daphnis and Chloe'' shown at the [[Paris salon]] of 1869, was purchased by the State.

Having identified himself too publicly with the [[Paris Commune]] of 1871, as curator at the [[Musée du Louvre]] under [[Gustave Courbet]], he took refuge in [[England]] in July 1871, staying at first with his friend the painter and engraver [[Alphonse Legros]]. He rapidly made a name through his appointment teaching at the [[South London Technical Art School]] and the [[South Kensington School of Art]], also in London. He was convicted ''in absentia'' by the French government of participation in the Commune, and given a life sentence.
[[File:Dalou Liseuse.jpg|thumb|right|''The Reader'', plaster statuette, circa 1871–1879. [[Petit Palais]] Museum]]

===English exile===
[[File:Albert Ludovici.jpg|thumb|Bust of [[Albert Ludovici, Sr.]], 1873, at the Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco]]
In his eight-year English exile, Dalou's association with [[City and Guilds of London Art School]], the [[Royal College of Art|National Art Training School]]<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Maurice Dreyfous, ''Dalou, sa vie et son œuvre'', Paris, Laurens, 1903, p. 70 [https://archive.org/stream/dalousavieetsono00dreyuoft#page/70/mode/2up (Online)]
</ref> and the artists of the [[New Sculpture]] movement laid the foundation for new developments in the post-classical British school of sculpture.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He also recommended his friend and colleague [[Édouard Lantéri]] to move from France to England. At the same time Dalou executed a remarkable series of terracotta statuettes and groups, such as ''A French Peasant Woman'' and ''The Reader''; a series of [[Boulogne-sur-Mer|Boulogne]] women, such as ''A Woman of Boulogne telling her Beads'';<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1| wstitle=Dalou, Jules |volume=7 |page=777}}</ref> and a series of informal terracotta portrait busts of friends and acquaintances, rarely signed. He was commissioned to produce the large public fountain called ''Charity'', erected at the back of the [[Royal Exchange, London|Royal Exchange]] (1878), and for [[Queen Victoria]] a monument to two young granddaughters in her private chapel at [[Windsor Castle|Windsor]] (1878).

===Return to France===
[[File:Bust of George James Howard.jpg|thumb|left|212px]]
He returned to France in 1879, after the declaration of amnesty, and produced a number of masterpieces. His great relief of ''Mirabeau replying to Dreux-Brézé'' illustrating an encounter of 23 June 1789, which was exhibited in 1883 and later at the [[Palais Bourbon]], and the highly decorative panel ''Fraternity'' were followed in 1885 by ''The Triumph of Silenus''. For the city of Paris he executed his most elaborate and splendid achievement, the vast monument, ''The Triumph of the Republic'', erected after twenty years of work in the [[Place de la Nation]], showing a symbolical figure of the Republic, aloft on her car, drawn by lions led by Liberty, attended by Labour and Justice, and followed by Abundance. It is somewhat in the taste of the Louis XIV period, ornate, but with a forward thrust to the ensemble and exquisite in every detail.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Within a few days, his great ''Monument to [[Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand|Alphand]]'' (1899), which almost equalled the success achieved by the ''[[Monument to Delacroix|Monument]] to [[Eugène Delacroix|Delacroix]]'' in the [[Luxembourg Garden]], was inaugurated.<ref name="EB1911"/>

The last of his works, cast posthumously, were a statue of [[Lazare Hoche]] in [[Quiberon]] (1902), the ''Monument to [[Léon Gambetta|Gambetta]]'' in [[Bordeaux]] (1904), the ''Monument to [[Émile Levassor]]'' (1907) and the ''Monument to [[Auguste Scheurer-Kestner|Scheurer-Kestner]]'' (1908) in Paris.
[[Image:Dalou, Le triomphe de Silène 01a.JPG|thumb|''Le Triomphe de Silène'', 1885, [[Luxembourg Garden]], Paris]]
Dalou, who was awarded the Grand Prix of the [[Exposition Universelle (1889)]], was made a commander of the [[Legion of Honor]]. He was one of the founders of the [[Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts]], and was the first president of the sculpture section.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Death and legacy==
Dalou died in Paris on 15 April 1902, aged 63, and was interred in the [[Cimetière du Montparnasse]] in Paris. His auction record, set at Sotheby's on 21 May 2014 is £362,500<ref>[https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/19th-20th-century-sculpture-l14230/lot.79.html?locale=en 19th and 20th Century sculpture sale, Sotheby's]</ref> for ''Boulonnaise Allaitant Son Enfant'' (a young mother from Boulogne feeding her child).

==Other works==

* [[Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier]], [[National Gallery of Scotland]] 1866
* Funerary monument to [[Auguste Blanqui]], [[Père-Lachaise]], 1885
* Monument to [[Victor Noir]], Père-Lachaise, 1891
* Monument to [[Léon Gambetta]], [[Bordeaux]], completed after his death by [[Camille Lefèvre]] and installed in 1904
* Bust of Alfred Roll, ca 1895, terracotta model for the monument to [[Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand]], Paris, Musée du Petit Palais
* ''Fame'', 1886, bronze, Bayonne, Musée Bonnat
* [[National Museum of Serbia]]
** ''Seating Male Figure'', bronze, c.1885
* [[Musée d'Orsay]], Paris
** ''Femme nue lisant dans un fauteuil'', bronze, 1878
** ''Grand Paysan'', bronze, 197 x 70 x 68 cm
** ''Liseuse'', vers 1875, bronze
** ''Couseuse''
** ''Travailleur debout tenant une bêche'', bronze
** ''Tonnelier avec des cordes'', bronze, for a projected ''Monument to Labour''
** ''Rebatteur de faux'', bronze, for the ''Monument to Labour''

==Images==
<gallery>
File:Monument Alphand (3).jpg|''Monument to [[Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand|Alphand]]'', [[Avenue Foch]], Paris
File:CP - Tombeaux historiques - 002 - Noir.jpg|''Victor Noir Tomb'', [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
File:Dalou-Republique-1.jpg|''Triumph of the Republic'', [[Place de la Nation]], Paris
File:Delacroix.jpg|''[[Monument to Delacroix]]'', [[Luxembourg Garden]], Paris
File:Dalou Bacchanale Serres d'Auteuil 01.jpg|''Bacchanale'', [[Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil]], Paris
File:Coin de l'atelier de Dalou.jpg|Dalou's studio in 1899
File:Atelier de Dalou vers 1902-1905.jpg|Dalou's studio c. 1902–1905
File:Dalou Travailleurs des champs et de la ville.jpg|Sketches for the ''Monument to Labour'', [[Petit Palais]]
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[New Sculpture]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{commons category|Jules Dalou}}
* Maurice Dreyfous, ''Dalou, sa vie et son œuvre'', Paris, Laurens, 1903

==External links==
* The RMN Photo Agency: [http://www.photo.rmn.fr/c/htm/CSearchT.aspx?V=CSearchT&SID=2K1KTS6V4UWB9&E=S_2K1KTS6V4UWB9&NoR=500&New=T Jules Dalou's work]{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* The R.W. Norton Art Gallery: [https://web.archive.org/web/20080509154357/http://www.rwnaf.org/aime-jules_dalou.html Aime-Jules Dalou's Biography]
*[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/60673/rec/6 ''Degas: The Artist's Mind''], exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art fully available online as PDF, which contains material on Jules Dalou (see index)
* {{FrenchSculptureCensus}}

{{Authority control (arts)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalou, Jules}}
[[Category:1838 births]]
[[Category:1902 deaths]]
[[Category:Sculptors from Paris]]
[[Category:French sculptors]]
[[Category:French male sculptors]]
[[Category:British sculpture]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the École des Beaux-Arts]]
[[Category:Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery]]
[[Category:French expatriates in England]]
[[Category:Communards]]

Jules Dalou - Revision history

2001:8B0:A7C:DF99:F90B:8CB3:70D0:5F1E: /* Early life */