Head of a young girl - Paul BELMONDO (1898-1982)

Also known as "Portrait of Jacqueline Hiegel"

A bronze sculpture with a nuanced brown patina
Signed on the back "P. Belmondo"
Cast by "Valsuani" (stamped with the foundry mark)
Raised on its walnut base

France
around 1940

height of the bronze 29 cm
height with the base 40 cm
width 23 cm
depth 25 cm

Our bronze head is reproduced in "Paul Belmondo, La sculpture sereine", Somogy éditions d'art, 1997, p.56 et 129, n°60.

Biography :
Paul Belmondo (1898-1982) was a French sculptor and medalist. He spent his youth in Algiers. Passionate about drawing, he began sculpting in 1911, before studying architecture at the School of Fine Arts in Algiers where he was a student of Georges Béguet. His studies were interrupted in 1914 by the First World War.

Thanks to a scholarship, Belmondo continued his studies at the École des beaux-arts in Paris where he notably took classes with Jean Boucher. He became friends with Charles Despiau. He won the Blumenthal Prize in 1926. His workshop was then located in old stables, 77 avenue Denfert-Rochereau in Paris. Belmondo received many commissions from the State, notably for the Palais de Chaillot with Léon-Ernest Drivier and Marcel Gimond. He won the Algerian artistic grand prize in 1932 and then the City of Paris grand prize in 1936.

During the Second World War, appointed corporal, Belmondo was a member of the Collaboration Group, arts section of which he was section vice-president (1941-1945). In November 1941, he took part in a “study trip” to Germany, organized by Arno Breker and the German ambassador to France Otto Abetz. He was accompanied by French painters and sculptors, agreeing like other among the most renowned artists to visit the high places of German culture as well as artists' studios. In June 1946, Paul Belmondo was banned by the National Committee for the Purification of Painters, Designers, Sculptors and Engravers from sales, exhibitions and publications for one year, retroactively from September 1, 1944.

Paul Belmondo became a professor at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris in 1956 and a member of the Institut de France in 1960. He was elected to the Academy of Fine Arts the same year.