Paul Richer

Paul Richer was a French anatomist, physiologist, anatomical artist and also worked as a sculptor on this subject. He was professor of artistic anatomy at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, beginning in 1903. Richer worked with Jean-Martin Charcot at the Salpêtrière Hospital, and from 1882-96 was chief of its laboratory. His medical research, done in collaboration with Charcot, was primarily in hysteria and epilepsy, but he also studied the relationship between medicine and art. In 1907-08 he became president of the Société Française d’Histoire de la Médecine. He also produced several sculptures, now exhibited at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. He was also a prolific author in medicine, producing over 15 medical books.

Richer produced several sculptures that are still exhibited at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. His medals were titled Gaul and Victorious Athlete, the bronze statuettes Football Group, Discus Throw, Shot Put, Boxing and Bar for Two Hands (Tableau I) and The Run, Wrestling, Dumbbells, Resting Athlete, and Outstretched Arm. respectively. Only a few of the submitted works could be identified. A medal from 1922 could be Gaul. It shows Marianne, the symbol for France. This bronze medal has a diameter of 5.0 cm and a weight of 46.4 g. Three runners shows the group The run, whose original is in the museum of the Assistence Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris. There are also pictures showing, for instance a wrestler, a shot-putter, a weightlifter, a boxer, a football player, and an athlete with an outstretched arm.