François Pompon (1855-1933)

Born in 1855, Frenchman François Pompon is best known for his animal sculptures, located today, in part, in the Orsay Museum in Paris. He entered the world of art first of all as a practitioner for well known masters, such as Mercié, Falguière and Rodin.

At the time, the field of sculpture was dominated by romanticism. Certain artists, however, wished to break with this tendency and return to more traditional models of human or animal figures.

Pompom's art is based on simplicity of shapes and smooth surfaces. He declared, moreover: "I make the animal with almost all its frills and flounces, and then little by little, I eliminate so as not to preserve more than what is absolutely indispensable".