Maurice Guiraud Rivière was a painter, designer and sculptor. His main subjects were dancers, athletes and horses, usually in theatrical poses and captured in motion. He often combined in his sculptures bronze with ivory and marble. Between 1919 and 1930 he mainly created radiator and porcelain figurines. He also produced drawings and paintings, often with landscapes, figures but as well with sports motifs. He exhibited at the _ Salon de la Société des Artistes Français_ and the Salon des Humouristes during the 1920s and 30s. Guiraud Rivière had studied at the Paris École des Beaux-Arts after first going to sea at age 15 and trying to be an actor when he was 20-years-old. He then worked for the Sèvres porcelain manufactory. The identified sports motifs are all bronze figures created around 1920: Les coureurs (The runners, 44 cm high), Joueur d’Association or Le Footballeur (Football player, 53 cm), Joueurs de Rugby (Rugby players, 40 cm), and Lanceur de javelot (Javelin thrower, 50 cm). The figure titled L’athlète (40 cm) is one of the Runners as a single figure.
France