Marcel Mérignargues

Frenchman Marcel Mérignargues was a classical sculptor who mainly produced large figurative marble and stone sculptures and monuments. Among those were also several monuments for the war victims of World War I. He lived and worked in the South of France in Languedoc-Roussillon and Paris after studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Nîmes. Mérignargues’ father Léopold (1843-1916) was also a well-known sculptor. His sons Marco and Gabriel presented an exhibition of their father’s work in Roubaix in 2007.

Mérignargues’ 40 cm high bronze statuette Boxeur, which was apparently exhibited in 1928 and 1932, depicts the French boxer Georges Carpentier. The artist also created a portfolio of 13 illustrations of him titled Douze Croquis (Twelve Sketches). Danse rythmique or Dialogue du vent avec les arbres (Dialogue of the wind with the trees) is a large stone relief that today hangs in the Musée Despiau-Wlérick in the city of Mont de Marsan in Aquitaine. It was created for a private mansion in Neuilly sur Seine and was inspired by the choreographies by Irène Popard. Possibly the submitted work was only one segment as a bronze. The relief was probably not completed until 1931.