Description
France c1935 Tendresse Art Deco Plaque 42mm x 42mm bronze 53.58 grams by E. J. Bachelet
Obverse: Mother with Child E. J. BACHELET
Reverse: LE COMITE NATIONAL DE L'ENFANCE AU LYCEE JEANNE D'ARC A CLERMONT - FERRAND (trans: THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR CHILDREN AT JEANNE D'ARC HIGH SCHOOL IN CLERMONT - FERRAND
Edge: BRONZE Triangular mint mark of Arthus-Bertrand
Émile-Just Bachelet was born in Nancy on 2 January 1892, at a time when the town was still enjoying the stimulating influence of the city’s art movement. He would subsequently work with one of the movement’s leading lights, Victor Prouvé. Bachelet enrolled at the École des Beaux-arts in Nancy, where he studied drawing under Jules Larcher and sculpture under Ernest Bussière. In 1912 he joined Couteau’s atelier at the École des Beaux-arts in Paris. His studies were interrupted by the First World War, and he served in the army as a nurse, alongside a doctor whose interest in ceramics helped influence the direction of Bachelet’s future career. In keeping with the industrial spirit permeating artistic life in Nancy, he completed his training with an internship at the firm of architects Toussaint and Marchal. In 1920 he began exhibiting sculpture at the Salon des Artistes Français and soon received public commissions, particularly in Lorraine. He was much in demand for war memorials, completing eleven in all, including the Monument de la Croix des Carmes (in collaboration with Prouvé) in 1922, as well as monuments for the towns of Toul, Épinal, Remiremont and Badonviller.
