Germaine, bas-relief - Alexandre Charpentier (1856-1909)

Germaine, plaster bas-relief representing the artist's daughter.

An intimate portrait and personal work of the artist, reflecting his talent as a medal maker.
Dimensions of the plaster: width: 12cm height: 15cm

Alexandre Charpentier was born into a modest family, the son of a road worker. At the age of twelve, he was apprenticed to an ornamental engraver, then to a pipe maker. Aspiring to a more artistic career, he decided to become a sculptor. His father's rejection led to several years of vagrancy and poverty, before he entered the Ecole des Beaux Arts in 1873, as a student of Hubert Ponscarme, in medal engraving, who encouraged and supported him.
In 1890, he exhibited at the Belgian avant-garde Salon, the XX, and enjoyed great success and numerous commissions, which lifted him out of his difficult condition; a success that continued throughout the decade.
In 1895, he exhibited at the Art Nouveau gallery inaugurated by Siegfried Bing, where his works were noticed, and then in 1899 at Julius Meier Graefe's shop-gallery La Maison Moderne.
In 1896, he was one of the founders of the group "L'Art dans Tout", which organised annual exhibitions until 1901, with the aim of challenging the hierarchies of major and minor arts and making art accessible to the middle and working classes.
In the following years, Alexandre Charpentier continued to exhibit but on a more occasional basis. Note the inauguration of the Maus Room at the Ixelles Museum, where several works by the artist appear. The sculptor died shortly afterwards, in 1909.