Paul Belmondo (sculptor)

Paul Belmondo (Algiers, French Algeria, August 8, 1898 - Paris, January 1, 1982) was a French sculptor. He is the father of the actor Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Biography

Belmondo was born in Algiers into a poor family of Italian origin (Piedmont and Sicily). His early schooling was at Dordor in Algiers. Passionate about art and design, he began carving at the age of 13 years. He studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Algiers, but his studies were interrupted by the First World War. He was gassed at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, and was then demobilized.

Thanks to a grant from the government of Algeria, he continued his studies in Paris where he became the student, then the friend, of Charles Despiau and Jean Boucher. He won the Grand Prix de Rome and Blumenthal Prize in 1926. He married in Paris in 1930 (3 children were born to the marriage, Alain, Jean-Paul and Muriel). He received the "Grand Prix artistique" of Algeria in 1932 and then the Grand Prix of the city of Paris in 1936. [ [http://www.larepublique.com/news/archivestory.php/aid/569/Paul_Belmondo,_la_sculpture_sereine.html "Paul Belmondo, la sculpture sereine"] ]

During World War II he was a member of "Groupe Collaboration", which advocated collaboration with the Nazi authorities. He was vice-president of the arts section (1941-1945). In 1941 he participated in a "study tour" organized by Goebbels in Germany, in which French painters and sculptors visited German cultural sites and art workshops. However, Paul Belmondo was not "worried" after the Liberation since many other well-known artists had also participated.

Before the war, he received many orders from the state, including the Palais de Chaillot with Leo-Ernest Drivier and Marcel Gimond. He became a professor at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 1956 and a member of the Institute in 1960.

He died aged 83 on 1 January 1982 in Paris. He is buried in Montparnasse Cemetery.

His workshop was located in old stables, at the Avenue Denfert-Rochereau in Paris.

Work

's "Boubouroche".

Two bronzes, "Jeannette" and "Apollo", have been located in the Tuileries Palace Gardens since 1988 (donated by the Belmondo family). When Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's sculpture "Dance" was moved from the exterior of Opera Garnier, Belmondo made the replacement for the original location.

A retrospective exhibition of his work, entitled "The sculpture of serenity" was organized in several cities in France from 1997 at the initiative of the Ministry of Culture. ["Paul Belmondo : La sculpture sereine", ouvrage collectif, éditions Somogy, 2001.]

The National Museum of Fine Arts in Algiers has a large collection of sculptures by Belmondo.

Musée Paul Belmondo

In March 2007 Jean-Paul Belmondo, his brother Alain and his sister Muriel donated of all works of their father they owned to the Paris suburb Boulogne-Billancourt: 259 sculptures, 444 medals and almost 900 drawings as well as sketchbooks and preparatory work. [http://www.lefigaro.fr/lefigaromagazine/2007/11/30/01006-20071130ARTFIG00486-une-folie-du-xviiie-siecle-pour-abriter-le-musee.php Une folie du XVIIIe siècle pour abriter le musée] , "Le Figaro Magazine", 30 novembre 2007] All will be exhibited in 1000 square meters in a newly established museum in Buchillot castle, an old eighteenth century folly. The building, a historic monument, owned by the city, will be renovated for a sum of over 2.7 million euros and the museum was intended to open to the public at the end of 2008. [http://www.lefigaro.fr/lefigaromagazine/2007/12/01/01006-20071201ARTFIG00102-au-nom-du-pre.php "Au nom du père": Interview with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Michel Godest by Véronique Prat, Le Figaro Magazine, 30 november 2007.] ] In May 2008, the opening was postponed, and planned for late 2009 or early 2010. [ [http://www.votons.info/programme-election-municipales/36266/candidats-jean-pierre-fourcade-pierre-christophe-baguet/175-400/themes-logement-et-urbanisme-environnement-transports-education-et-culture-jeunesse-sports-et-vie-associative-gouvernance/2-3-4-5-7-8 Programmes comparés de Jean-Pierre Fourcade et Pierre-Christophe Baguet] ]

Emmanuel Bréon, curator of the Musée des Années Trente (Museum of the 1930s) in Boulogne-Billancourt and an admirer of the work of sculptor, was the originator of the idea that the museum would located in the area. The Belmondo collection is temporarily stored in the Musée des Années Trente.

References

Literature

* "Paul Belmondo : La sculpture sereine", ouvrage collectif, éditions Somogy, 2001.
* Jean Dutourd, "Paul Belmondo", éditions Le Chêne, 1984.