Alexandre Descatoire French, 1874-1949

This sensuous image of Pierrot and Columbine is typical of Descatoire's œuvre.  Many of his figurative groups are sentimental or romantic in subjectmatter, while his mythological groups are infused with movement and laughter. His bronze group of Bacchanale, presented at the Salon de la Malmaison, is an enlivened study of tête d'expressions while his 1918 group of a soldier returning to his young family, Le Retour du Poilu is a touching symbol of hope and rebirth.  His most visible work is a gilt-bronze statue of La Jeunesse exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1937 and now in the Trocadéro.  Descatoire was awarded the médaille d'honneur in 1927, made an officier of the Légion d'Honneur and in 1939 a member of the Institut des Beaux-Arts.

RELATED LITERATURE Benezit vol.4