GEORGES LAËTHIER (Besancon 1875-1955)

Portrait of the artist Just Becquet (1829-1907)

Terracotta, reworked with warm brown patinated plaster at the back of the head
Height: 15.4 inches (39 cm)
Signed proper left-side of base

Our terracotta portrait by Georges Laëthier of the aged French sculptor Just Becquet is closely related to Laëthier’s waist-length marble portrait of the master, dating from 1908, in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Besançon (*F1); and to his portrait of Becquet wearing a calot (a type of cap) (*F2). Vigorously modeled, our bust appears to have served as a preliminary study for one or the other sculptures, or both.  In fact, the back of the head was reworked with loosely applied plaster, suggesting that it may have once been covered with a cap—and thus that it is even more closely related to version in which Becquet wears a cap than might at first appear to be the case.  Laëthier also carved a plaque with a bust of Becquet (*F3).  Becquet was Laëthier’s revered professor at the École des Beaux-Arts de Besançon from 1894 to 1896.  In 1908, a year after the master’s death, when the marble bust now in Besançon was presented in the Salon des Artistes français in Paris, Laëthier received the Medal of Honor for that sculpture (*F4).

Laëthier was the penultimate child of a large bourgeois family—his father (who died in 1900) was an attorney.  He was introduced to both drawing and painting by his brother Edmond (1858–1889), an artist who had studied with Antonin Fanart (183 –1903) and Émile Isenbart (1846–1921).  At the age of 17, he was awarded first prize in drawing at the Lycée Victor Hugo, where he was a student.  By then, he had already dedicated himself to sculpture.  Encouraged by his mother, he pursued his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts at Besançon under Becquet—who himself had received instruction from François Rude (1784–1855)—thus largely avoiding the impress of the official French academicism that was then current.  In 1899 he was enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, receiving instruction in the art of sculpture first from Gabriel-Jules Thomas (1824–1905) and then from Jean-Antoine Injalbert (1845–1933).

Laëthier debuted at the Salon des Artistes française of 1901.  In 1903, he received a Gold Medal from the Salon for his marble Vieillard à la source, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts at Besançon.  In the same year Laëthier was named professor of sculpture at the École des Beaux-Arts, Besançon, replacing Albert Pasche (1873–1964), and he remained there until 1943.  At the end of his life Laëthier devoted himself almost exclusively to the medium of watercolor (*F5).

FOOTNOTES:
*F1: Inv. no. 923.2.1, gift of the artist. The Besançon portrait is 34.65 inches (88 cm) high, 31.89 inches (81 cm) wide, and 19.29 inches (49 cm) deep. On that marble: Hélène Cretin, Georges Laëthier (1875–1955) sculpteur franc-comtois et professeur à l’École Régionale des Beaux-Arts de Besançon, 2 vols., Besançon: Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Mémoire de Maîtrise, 1994, catalogue, p. 28; and “Georges Laëthier,” in Hommage à quatre sculpteurs oubliés: Marguerite Syamour, 1857–1945, Anne de Chardonnet, 1869–1926, René de Chateaubrun, 1875–1942, Georges Laëthier, 1875–1955: Musée des beaux-arts et d'archéologie de Besançon, 29 juin–2 décembre 1996, Besançon: Musée des beaux-arts et d'archéologie de Besançon, 1996, pp. 85 (detail) and 97 (catalogue no. 10).

*F2: This portrait is mentioned but not illustrated in Hommage à quatre sculpteurs oubliès, 1996, p.97 (catalogue no. 10).

*F3: The plaque is mentioned but not illustrated in Hommage à quatre sculpteurs oubliès, 1996, p.97 (catalogue no. 10).

*F4: The bust was exhibited in the Salon des Artistes français, Paris, of 1908 (no. 3202); and at the École des Beaux-Arts de Besançon in 1922.

*F5: This summary of Laëthier’s career is largely based on Hélène Cretin’s essay on the artist in Hommage à quatre sculpteurs oubliés, 1996, pp. 86–88.

LITERATURE:
Hélène Cretin, Georges Laëthier (1875–1955), sculpteur franc-comtois et professeur à l’École Régionale des Beaux-Arts de Besançon, 2 vols., Besançon: Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Mémoire de Maîtrise, 1994.

“Georges Laëthier,” in Hommage à quatre sculpteurs oubliés: Marguerite Syamour, 1857–1945, Anne de Chardonnet, 1869–1926, René de Chateaubrun, 1875–1942, Georges Laëthier, 1875–1955: Musée des beaux-arts et d'archéologie de Besançon, 29 juin–2 décembre 1996, Besançon: Musée des beaux-arts et d'archéologie de Besançon, 1996, pp. 85–115.