Robert Laurent

Robert Laurent (June 29, 1890 – April 20, 1970) was an American sculptor, known for his sensitive interpretations of the human form.

Born in 1890, he died in Cape Neddick, Maine in 1970 at the age of 80.

Laurent's son, John, was a prominent painter in Maine who was known for his landscapes and seascapes.[1]

Goose Girl, Radio City Music Hall, New York City, circa 1932

Early Life

Laurent was born in Concarneau, Brittany France in 1890.[2] There, at the age of 12 his artistic talents were recognized by art connoisseur Hamilton Easter Field who then brought him to the United States when he was twenty years old.[3] In 1908 he travelled to Rome with Field and there studied with Maurice Sterne as well as with wood carver Giuseppe Doratori at the British Academy.[4]

Laurent served in the Navy during the First World War. He visited his native Brittany during this time and met Mimi Caraes, who became his wife.[5] He returned to Brooklyn in 1919.[3]

in 1922, when his mentor Hamilton Easter Field passed, he left Laurent his art collection and Brooklyn home. After inheriting this collection, Laurent established the Hamilton Easter Field Foundation with the aide of other New York artists.[6]

Professional career

Before coming to Indiana University, Laurent taut at the Art Students League in New York City, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC, Vassar College, and Goucher College.[7] He was a Professor of Fine Arts at Indiana University from 1942 to 1960.[3]

Laurent once said "The beauty of alabaster is its transparency. This is what gives it life and vibration."

Laurent won the Audubon Sculpture Award in New York in 1945,several first prizes in Hoosier salons, and in exhibits at the John Herron Museum, Indianapolis. He received high distinction in 1954 when was named sculptor in residence at the American Academy in Rome for a year. Laurent was one of 23 American sculptors whose works were selected for official exhibit of American art shown in Russia in 1959[8]

Laurent was a fellow of the National Sculpture Society, president of the Hamilton Easter Field Foundation, and a member of the Sculptor's Guild - Indiana Artists, New England Sculptors' Association, and the College Art Association.[9]

Artwork

Robert Laurent's Mother and Child on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Description of Robert Laurent's Mother and Child in the Smithsonian American Art Museum

• Madame De Felt-tipped pen and ink on paper. sheet: 16 x 10 5/8 in. (40.7 x 27.1 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum [10]

• Mimi Smithsonian American Art Museum[10]

• Polynesian Smithsonian American Art Museum[10]

• Shipping (one-third scale model of Federal Trade Building Relief). 1937. Plaster, wire, and burlap. 29 1/8 x 24 1/2 x 3 3/8 in. (74.1 x 62.2 x 8.6 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum[10]

• Sleeping Dog, 1920. Crayon and pencil on paper. Sheet: 17 x 22 1/8 in. (43.3 x 56.1 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum[10]

• Two Boys Smithsonian American Art Museum[10]

• Mother and Child, 1924. Depicts his wife and young son on smoothly polished white marble. Alabaster relief in wood frame. 17 1/2 x 11 3/4 x 2 in. (44.5 x 29.9 x 5.2 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Currently on view.[10]

• Showalter Fountain, Indiana University Campus, Bloomington, Indiana [11]

• Salome, Indiana University Eskenazi Museum of Art, Bloomington, Indiana,[12]

• Veritas Filia Temporis, 1968. Depicts Father Time and his daughter Truth. Ballantine Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

Exhibitions

Robert Laurent Memorial Exhibition, The Ogunquit Art Association - July, 1970

References

  1. ↑ http://archive.bangordailynews.com/2005/05/09/prominent-maine-artist-john-laurent-dies-at-83/
  2. ↑ Armstrong, Craven et al, ‘’200 Years of American Sculpture’’, David R. Godine, Publisher in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1976, p 286
  3. 1 2 3 Schwier, Carrie (May 3, 2011). ""The One That Got Away": The History Behind the Showalter Fountain Fish". Indiana University Archives. Office of Archives and Records Management at Indiana University Bloomington. Archived from the original on December 14, 2012. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
  4. ↑ Proske, Beatrice Gilman, Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture, Brookgreen Gardens, SC, 1943 p413
  5. ↑ "Robert Laurent, Art & Artist File, Smithsonian American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery Library, Smithsonian Libraries, Washington D.C. 9/29/2017". Courier-Journal. July 24, 1960.
  6. ↑ "Robert Laurent, Art & Artist File, Smithsonian American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery Library, Smithsonian Libraries, Washington D.C. 9/29/2017". Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY. July 24, 1960.
  7. ↑ "Robert Laurent, Art & Artist File, Smithsonian American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery Library, Smithsonian Libraries, Washington D.C. 9/29/2017". Louisville, KY. Courier-Journal. July 24, 1960.
  8. ↑ "Robert Laurent, Art & Artist File, Smithsonian American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery Library, Smithsonian Libraries, Washington D.C. 9/29/2017". Courier-Journal. July 24, 1960.
  9. ↑ "Robert Laurent Art & Artist File, Smithsonian American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery Library, Smithsonian Libraries, Washington D.C. 9/29/2017".
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Smithsonian American Art Museum Collections". Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  11. ↑ http://www.bloomingpedia.org/wiki/Showalter_Fountain
  12. ↑ https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/on-view/on-site-sculpture.html
  • Robert Laurent in American public collections, on the French Sculpture Census website Edit this at Wikidata
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