Pierre Toulgouat

Pierre Toulgouat was a French sculptor, author and photographer, who joined the School of Decorative Arts and graduated in 1921. After military service, he moved to Giverny. Toulgouat lived near American artists in the village, but he moved to the United States with his first wife, Helen Robbin, an American model whom he married in 1928, and with whom he lived in New York until 1934. While in New York he focused on fashion photography. After their divorce in 1934, Toulgouat returned to France.

Toulgouat then experimented with ethnographic studies and continued his career in the Landes region, as an ethnologist and photographer. He worked for nine years for the forest Museum of Hossegor with a break of one year, between 1939 and 1940, during which he was drafted. In 1947 he was placed in charge of photographing the forest, and forest activities, such as fishing and hunting until his death in 1992.

Maybe he took part “hors concours” because he was living in the US at the time of the Los Angeles Olympic Games. Accordingly, Football Tackle is probably referring to American football or rugby rather than to soccer. Two rugby players is a small sculpture of nickel-plated bronze sized 20 x 36 cm. The Hurdler is featured in the catalog of the art competitions. The Runner could be Le Départ du Sprinter (Start of the Sprinter, 1925). The (Speed) Skater is a bronze from the year 1929 and is located in the National Sports Museum in Nice.