Raymond Delamarre

Place: Paris

Born: 1890

Death: 1986

Biography:

Raymond Delamarre (1890–1986) was a French sculptor and medalist. He played a major role in the Art Déco movement. While his ecclesiastical work showed the influence of Catholicism, he was personally agnostic. His art, especially his war memorials, was also influenced by his firsthand experiences of the horrors of the First World War. Delamarre joined the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris at the age of sixteen and was attached to the studio of Jules-Félix Coutan. His studies were interrupted by his conscription into the army from 1911 to 1913 and then service from 1914 to 1918 after the French mobilization. He was sent to the front and was almost immediately taken prisoner, but was released in 1916 and returned to active service. After the war, Delamarre tried to secure the 'Prix de Rome' and with the bas-relief 'Le retour du guerrier au foyer familial' he shared the prize with Alfred Janniot, which meant he was able to spend four years in Rome at the Villa Médicis. He was to stay in Rome until 1924, grew a moustache and visited and studied the sculpture of Greece. The composition 'Suzanne au bain' exhibited in 1922 at the Salon des Artistes Français is a good illustration of Delamarre's work at this time. In 1925, he took part in the competition to secure the work on the proposed 'Monument à la Défense du canal de Suez' to be erected in Ismailia, Egypt, in collaboration with the architect Michel Roux-Spitz.