Gaston Veuvenot Leroux (1854-1942) Crossing the Stream

Bronze with a medal patina, signed “Gon LEROUX” on the rock.
Cast during the artist's lifetime.
Circa 1920

Dimensions:
Height including base: 114 cm
Diameter: 40 cm

Description
Rare sculpture by the artist Gaston Veuvenot LEROUX, depicting a man, dressed in a simple drape, crossing a stream carrying a young child on his shoulder.
The movement of his posture, the inclination of his body, and the tension of his muscles reflect the effort of crossing. The child, clinging to his neck, reveals his fear. His tense face and outstretched arms express fear, even tears.
The work realistically and movingly captures intergenerational solidarity and paternal protection. A silent evocation of overcoming life's challenges, where the strength of one supports the vulnerability of another. Medici Breccia marble base. Sculpture pivots on its marble base, allowing it to be admired from all sides.

Gaston Veuvenot LEROUX (1854-1942)
Gaston Veunevot was born on September 14, 1854, in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris. His father is recorded as unknown, and he was the son of Julia Veunevot, a 21-year-old milliner from Proussy (Calvados). Shortly after his birth, his mother met a certain Hirschfeld, a member of the French diplomatic corps, and moved with him to Vienna, Austria. Gaston Veunevot was raised by his maternal grandparents, Parisians by adoption and a restaurateur on Rue des Bons-Enfants. Out of gratitude to his maternal grandmother, Louise, née Leroux, he adopted her name as a pseudonym.
In 1866, he joined his mother in Vienna to continue his studies. In 1874, he attended the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, where he trained as a sculptor under the academy's director, Carl Kundmann, until 1877. It is likely that he studied under Gustave Deloye during his stay in Vienna.
Released from his military service, Gaston Leroux was admitted in August 1881 to the sculpture department of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied under François Jouffroy.
He began teaching as a professor of statuary at the École des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux in 1893. At the same time, he was the official sculptor of the City of Bordeaux, and in this capacity completed numerous commissions, including the Monument to the Marquis de Tourny (1900) on the square of the same name, the tombs of the cardinals at Saint-André Cathedral, war memorials, and a large number of busts, notably those of the mayors of Bordeaux.