François Bazin (sculptor)

François Bazin
Born	31 October 1897
Died	1956 Paris
Nationality	French
Occupation	Sculptor

François Bazin was born in Paris on 31 October 1897 and died in Paris in 1956. His parents were engravers and medalists. Early years were spent in Chile where his parents taught at the Santiago art college. The family returned to Paris in 1913 and Bazin enrolled at the Paris École des Beaux-Art. He was mobilized in 1916 and attached to a squadron whose planes were equipped with Hispano Suiza engines. After the war he completed his studies and was runner-up for the Prix de Rome in 1925. Although not a Breton many of his works can be seen in Brittany including the "The monument aux bigoudens", the monument at the Pointe de Pen Hir and the "Filles de la mer" statue at Quimper.

The École nationale supérieure Beaux-arts in Paris have traditionally kept in their collections, the works of former students and have Bazin's plaster bust "La Volonté" which he completed for the school's competition "La Tête d'expression" in 1922.

The 1949 Monument to the Bretons of Free France, known as the Cross of Pen-Hir, is located here. It celebrates the activities of the group of Free French Britons who founded Sao Breiz in Great Britain during the Second World War. The monument was designed by the architect Jean-Baptiste Mathon and the sculptural work is by Bazin. The monument was commissioned by the "Association des Français Libres" and the plot of land on which the monument stands was a gift from the commune of Camaret-sur-Mer, its proximity to the sea recalling the route taken by a number of Bretons to reach English shores. The architect Jean-Baptiste Mathon was greatly involved in the reconstruction of Brest after the end of the 1939-1945 war and he chose to design a monument shaped like the Cross of Lorraine. Bazin's sculpture has been described as "cubist".

There are two inscriptions

"Aux Bretons de la France Libre - MCMXL - MCMXLV - La France a perdu une bataille, mais la France n'a pas perdu la guerre. Dans l'univers libre des forces immenses n'ont pas encore donné. Un jour ces forces écraseront l'ennemi"

and

"Kentoc'h mervel eget em zaotra"

taken from the motto of Brittany "death rather than defilement".

Bazin's sculpture by the side of the river at Pont-l'Abbé captures the women of a Breton family worrying over the fate of the fishermen in their family out at sea in a storm. He executed the work in 1931. The women depicted cover five generations of a family and we have the grandmother, the mother, the sister, and two young daughters and in their faces Bazin tries to capture their anxiety, their sadness and their resignation to fate. The work is completed with two bas-reliefs depicting scenes from Celtic and Breton mythology. The women wear bigouden costume. There are two inscriptions, " Aux Bigoudens" and "Terre de pardons et de légendes". The sculpture was shown at the 1929 Salon and was awarded a gold medal and the "Prix National". The monument stands in the Saint-Laurent wood near the Notre Dames des Carmes church. The lighthouses of Eckmühl and Ar Men, the flight of Saint-Guénolé and King Gradlon, Tristan, Yseult and Morhold, the Bag-Noz, Morgane, the trespass of Ker-d Ys, Dahut, King Arthur and the "Round table" and the fairy Viviane and Merlin all figure in Bazin's elaborate bas-reliefs.

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