Pierre Charles Lenoir

Pierre Charles Eugène Lenoir
Born	23 May 1879 Paris
Died	9 September 1953
Nationality	French
Education	École régionale des beaux-arts de Rennes and École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris
Occupation	Sculptor

Pierre Lenoir was a French sculptor born in Paris on 23 May 1879 and who died In Paris on 9 September 1953.

Pierre Lenoir was a French sculptor and medallist and was one of the Breton sculptors born in the 1880s who studied together at the École régionale des Beaux-Arts in Rennes; Jean Boucher, Louis-Henri Nicot, Armel-Beaufils, Paul Le Goff, Eloi Robert, Albert Bourget and Francis Renaud. He was the son of the sculptor Charles Joseph Lenoir. He married the painter Mathilde Berthe Thorel who also used the name Mathilde Lenoir. He studied at the École des beaux-arts de Rennes and the École des beaux-arts de Paris. He became the director of the École des beaux-arts de Rennes and in 1931 he was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur. He died on 9 September 1953 and is buried in the Thorel family grave in the Père-Lachaise cemetery. A plaque marks his residence between 1914 and 1953 at 12 rue d'Auteuil in Paris.

Lenoir's main works were:-

Brittany lost some 240,000 men killed in the 1914-1918 war and every family and every commune was touched by that war, and as was the case throughout France, there was a hunger to mark these losses with some form of memorial. Those left behind felt it a duty to honour those lost in some tangible form and in November 1919 the association "La Bretagne artistique" sent a circular to all Breton Hôtel de ville promising their cooperation in creating sculptural decoration for the memorials erected.

For this memorial Lenoir sculpted a widow shrouded in a Breton cloak. The effect is most dramatic! It was originally intended to depict two women, one standing and the other on her knees but only one was completed.

This memorial dates to 1922 and has Lenoir sculptures in kersantite. The figure of the soldier and the small "pietà" on one side of the obelisk were based on models by Lenoir but the actual carving was carried out by Jean Joncourt.

Lenoir created many medals and plaquettes.

This 1931 Lenoir bronze plaquette is held in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The museum states

"Art Deco medals and plaquettes reflected changes within society. Here a half-dressed woman smoking a cigarette suggests modernity and a hedonistic approach to life"

This plaster bust is to be seen in Grenoble's mairie. A version in marble is located in Grenoble's "House of Stendahl".

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