Robert Laurent (June 29, 1890 – April 20, 1970) was a French-American modernist symbolic sculptor, printmaker and teacher. His work, the New York Times wrote,”figured in the increase of an American sculptural art that balanced plants and abstraction.” Widely exhibited, he took allocation in the Whitney’s 1946 exhibition Pioneers of Modern Art. Credited as the first American sculptor to tackle a “direct carving” sculpting style that was bolder and more abstract than the subsequently traditional fine arts practice, which relied upon models, Laurent’s read was inspired by the African carving and European unbiased art he admired, while afterward echoing folk styles found both in the U.S. and in the midst of medieval stone cutters of his native Brittany. Best known for his virtuoso mastery of the figure, Laurent sculpted in complex media, including wood, alabaster, bronze, marble and aluminum. His endowment earned him major commissions for public sculpture, most famously for the Goose Girl for New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, as well as for Spanning the Continent for Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park. After the Depression, he was then the recipient of several Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project commissions under the New Deal, including a bas-relief called Shipping for the exterior of Washington, D.C.’s Federal Trade Commission Building, commissioned by the Treasury Department’s Section of Fine Arts in 1938.
What do you think of the works of Robert Laurent?
Use the form below to say your opinion about Robert Laurent. All opinions are welcome!