Louis Dejean

Louis Dejean studied at the École des Arts décoratifs in Paris and was a student and assistant of Auguste Rodin, amongst others. He was a member of the group around sculptor Gaston Schnegg (1866-1953), the Schnegg’s gang. Later, Dejean taught as a professor of sculpture at the Scandinavian Academy in Paris. In 1923, he was made a Commander of the Legion of Honor.

Dejean created mainly female statuettes, often modern and elegantly dressed (La Parisienne) or as nudes or torsos in terra cotta. His oeuvre was influenced by Rodin, Aristide Maillol, and ancient sculptures. Accordingly, these statuettes were called “modern Tanagra figures”, after the terracotta figures from ancient central Greece. He also created busts, allegorical representations, reliefs, and groups.

After World War I, Dejean also designed memorials for the fallen soldiers. Some of his works were also cast in bronze. He also produced numerous medals, plaques, and coins, including the Bronze Medal from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In 1935, he created a 9.15-meter-tall statue of La Paix in gilt bronze for the grand dining room of the passenger ship Normandie, now in Pinelawn Memorial Park in Farmingdale, N.Y.