Eugène Léon L'Hoëst (1874 -1937), Nymph and satyr, 190

Eugène Léon L'Hoëst (Paris 1874 -1937) Nymph and satyr, 1908 Group in patinated terracotta Signed and dedicated to "C.Baud Best regards, L'Hoëst 08" Height: 27.5x19c20cm very good condition Eugène Léon L'Hoëst is born on July 12, 1874 in Paris, of a Walloon father and an Angevin mother. It seems that he spent his entire childhood in Anjou, where he worked for the sculptor Amédée Charron. After his art studies in Angers, he moved to Paris. Presented by the Angevin sculptor Jules Eugène Lenepveu, Eugène L'Hoëst entered the studio of the sculptor Gabriel-Jules Thomas on November 7, 1891, then a professor at the Paris School of Fine Arts. L'Hoëst was admitted permanently in July 1895. Still living in Paris, he had a workshop at 27, rue des Dames in the 16th arrondissement, which he kept until the end of his life. He participated for the first time in the Salon of the Society of French Artists in 1893. In 1895, he presented at the Salon the work entitled Modestia for which he was awarded an honorable mention. At the same time, he won the first studio prize from the School of Fine Arts with a work entitled Pro Patria. In April 1899, Eugène Léon L'Hoëst won first prize in the Chenavard competition and continued to participate in the Salon until his death, claiming to be a student of Gabriel Thomas and Jean-Antoine Injalbert. He participated in the Universal Exhibition of 1900 in Paris. In 1906, Eugène Léon L'Hoëst obtained a travel grant for his group Idylle and his bust of André de Joly, then prefect of Nice. He visited Italy, Sicily, Tunisia and Algeria where he brought back his most popular work, Three Arab Musicians, exhibited at the Salon of 1900. In 1908, he created a monument for Suarez's tomb, including he directed the stone execution the following year in Alexandria, Egypt. Impressed by these trips, L'Hoëst made the representation of the physical types of North Africa his favorite theme. In 1911, the artist presented at the Salon of the Society of French Orientalist Painters, around ten lost-wax plaster or bronze sculptures inspired by Egypt and Algeria. L'Hoëst's work consists of numerous commissions including La France heroic, Hommage à l'Agriculture, the Grignon Monument, the Pont-Audemer War Memorial, the Vaires-sur-Marne War Memorial, the Monument to the dead of the Loudun War, or the Monument to Marie Harel, The Angers Museum of Fine Arts preserves some paintings and around twenty sculptures, including Arab woman selling oranges, Blind man playing the lyre (1923) , Water Seller, as well as two pieces titled Arab Shepherd and two studies of Arab women. The Musée d'Orsay in Paris keeps two sculptures by the artist: Young Fellah Water Carrier (1910) and Louqsor Water Carrier (1910), both executed in Cairo. In Constantine, the Cirta National Museum preserves a stone sculpture titled Arab Musicians (1924) and two bronzes titled Despair and The Return of the Fisherman, and the marble Coquetry of a Nymph. Eugène Léon L'Hoëst died on December 24, 1937 in the 17th arrondissement of Paris