Josette Hébert-Coëffin

Josette Hébert-Coëffin (16 December 1907 Rouen – 3 June 1973 Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French sculptor and the first female recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in New York City in 1937

Biography[]

Hébert-Coëffin was born on 16 December 1906 in Rouen, France.^[1] She was a student of Richard Dufour, , Charles Despiau^[2] and . She studied at the École supérieure d'art et design Le Havre-Rouen under the direction of , where she obtained a first prize in sculpture and architecture in 1922.^[3] A few years later, she entered the studio of Alphonse Guilloux. She exhibited two busts, Beethoven and Resignation, at the 1927 Salon des artistes français.

She was the first recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in New York City in 1937.^[4][5] The same year, she creates models for the manufacture nationale de Sèvres. She obtained a gold medal at the 1937 World's Fair as well as a gold medal from the société d'encouragement pour l'industrie. She was elected as a member of the académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Rouen in 1938. Josette Hébert-Coeffin died on 3 June 1973 in Paris^[1] and is buried in the Saint-Germain cemetery of Pont-Audemer, next to her husband Charles Coeffin, an industrialist and aviator, in a tomb surmounted by a grand-duc, her last unfinished work.

Artist-sculptor of the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres 1938–1947[]

All of Josette Hebert Coeffin's works were destroyed during the bombing that devastated the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres three times on 3 March 1942. Hard hit, the artist resumed her work under the artistic direction of Maurice Gensoli. She sometimes amused herself by recalling that her membership in Sèvres gave her the right to wear the sword, according to the regulations of this factory, which date back to 1758.

From that time on, she was frequently inspired by fauna and proved to be a talented animal painter. Her fame grew. She soon realized La Biche et son faon for the President Vincent Auriol. The long sessions at the Jardin des Plantes in the intimacy of the animals taught her to know the particular character of the animals.

Another fruit of his stay at Sèvres was the development of his skills in the art of chamotte (stoneware chamotte) since 1937. She was looking for a suitable material to depict goat hair, hornbills, kiwis, and other feathers, and chamotte was the perfect choice. After perfecting this technique, Josette created large, more lifelike figures, such as a boar's head and a rooster.

Medal artist at the Monnaie de Paris[]

She worked at the Monnaie de Paris where she developed her taste and technique as an engraver and medalist. The reverse of her medals was never merely decorative. It added a complement to the main subject, perfecting the work, according to a delicate inspiration. Josette Hébert-Coeffin made nearly three hundred medals, representing a considerable body of work.

Among these numerous medals, one will retain in particular that of the president René Coty, which made her the first woman, since the time of François 1er, to whom one had ordered the engraving of the effigy of the head of the State. Charles de Gaulle was the second president of the Republic to be medallioned by her during his mandate. It took many sessions of posing of General de Gaulle mostly without his knowledge. Once finished, the general told her about her medal, "When it comes to the last of your models, you will understand that I am not telling you about it... Your medal surpasses the few medals made, so far, on De Gaulle"^[6]

There was also the medal of the 1968 Winter Olympics that she presented herself to General de Gaulle on 6 January 1968. This medal was the 161st of its creation. The athletes selected to represent their country received at the end of the Olympics this medal in memory of their participation. Finally, Jean Cocteau, for his medal, did not want any other medalist than Josette Hébert-Coeffin, so much he had liked the drawings of cats that she had exposed. Speaking of cats, she illustrated the book Chats des villes et chants des chats by Yahne Lambray and Renée Herrmann^[7]

Works[]

Sculpture[]

Bust of Henri Gadeau de Kerville at the

• Jean Tambareau, bust in bronze
• Henri Gadeau de Kerville, 1936, bust in bronze, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen.^[8]
• Virgin and Child, known as Madonna, statuette, Lacalm, Sainte-Foy church.
• Bas-relief, 1947, Hôtel des Postes, Rue Jeanne-d'Arc, Rouen.^[9]
• Coupe aux Boeufs de Hongrie, (1940)^[10]
• Our Lady of Prudence, 1958, statue, on the side of the route nationale 13 in Pacy-sur-Eure.^[11]
• Saint Vincent de Paul, bas-relief, Écouis, Collégiale Notre-Dame d'Écouis.
• Monument to Tristan Bernard (place Tristan Bernard), humorist who died in 1947, Paris
• , bronze medallion, square René-Tamarelle in Bihorel.
• Stele to William the Conqueror in Saint-Valery-sur-Somme.
• Commemorative plaque of the Mora, 1966, bronze plaque, commemorating the construction of the flagship of William the Conqueror, in Barfleur.
• The doe and her fawn for President Vincent Auriol

Medal[]

• The Pont Saint-Jean (Bordeaux), inaugurated on 4 April 1965, bronze. Other version in silver plated bronze
• French Republic. Ministère du travail. Caisse nationale de prévoyance, 1975, bronze
• Sud-Ouest, bronze
• Marie Curie (1867–1934), 1967, bronze, Monnaie de Paris
• 1968 Winter Olympics, Grenoble, bronze
• Joan of Arc (1431–1456), 1971, bronze, Monnaie de Paris^[12]
• Jean Cocteau (1951)^[13]
• Philippe Boiry (1927–2014), 1965, prince of Araucania and Patagonia
• Dean Denis Leroy, Rennes, 1973
• Medal of the Memorial of the deportation of the concentration camp of Natzwiller-Struthof

Exhibitions[]

• 1927 (until 1939) Salon des artistes rouennais
• 1927 Salon des artistes français, 2 busts, Beethoven et Resignation
• 1931 Salon des artistes français, Bronze medal (sculpture) of Société des artistes français
• 1933 Salon d'automne^[14]
• 1935 Salon des Indépendants : the General Council of the Seine acquires an exhibited work.
• 1936
  • Salon des Indépendants : exhibition of a sparrow that will be stolen during the show
  • Salon des arts ménagers : le Toucan
  • Salon d’automne : Oiseaux
  • Exposition des Seize, Rouen : acquisition from the ministry of air of the model of monument to aviation
• 1938
  • Exhibition d'« Art abstrait et inobjectif » in Galerie L’Équipe located 8 boulevard du Montparnasse qui réunissait 4 peintres et de 2 sculpteurs
  • Exhibition "33e groupe des Artistes de ce temps", Petit Palais, november 1938^[15]
  • Salon des Tuileries (jusqu'en 1953)
• 1939 Exhibition « Non-Objective Painting collection » (June 1939), Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York City : 2 works of the artist, oil on paper under the names No 7. and No 8. (numbers 219 and 220 of the exhibition catalog)
• 1940 Exhibition « Ten American Non-objective Painters » (14 Nov – 31 December 1940), Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York City^[16]
• 1940 Salon d'automne in Palais de Chaillot
• 1957 Exhibition « Médailles françaises modernes », Kunsthistorisches Museum (Austria)
• 2019 Exhibition « Sculptures of Les Animaliers 1900–1950 », Sladmore Gallery, London

Awards[]

• Bronze medal (sculpture) of the Salon des artistes français, 1931
• Winner of the Bouctot prize, Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Rouen, fine arts section, 1934
• Silver Plaquette of the 21st annual competition organized by the on the occasion of the exhibition l'invitation au voyage at the Palais Galliera (the Plaquette of Honor went to Mr. Louis Vuitton), 1936
• Gold medal at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, 1937
• 1st laureate of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in New York City in 1937
• Member of the Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Rouen. Elected on 24 June 1938, she is the third woman to be admitted after Colette Yver and Louise Lefrançois-Pillion. She donated to the Academy of Rouen in 1935 one of her works Child's head (terracotta).

Works in public collections[]

United States[]

• New York City, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
  • No. 7, oil on paper (1939)
  • No. 8, oil on paper (1939)^[17]
• Washington, National Gallery of Art, Medal Jean Cocteau (1951)^[18]

France[]

Bust of Tristan-Bernard, place Tristan-Bernard in Paris

• Paris
  • Centre Pompidou, Puffin, sculpture
  • Musée Carnavalet, Medal of the SS France (1960) (1962)^[19]
  • Comédie-Française, Bust of Tristan Bernard displayed in the public foyer. It was commissioned by the Comédie-Française and donated by the writer's family.
  • Musée Ernest Hébert
    • Napoleon III : study for the allegory of France, charcoal drawing
    • Ophelia with Cornflowers, painting^[20]
  • Musée de la Monnaie de Paris
  • Jardin des Champs-Élysées, Monument in bronze for Jean Perrin, physicist and Nobel Prize in Physics (opposite the Grand Palais)
  • Place Tristan Bernard, Bust of Tristan Bernard, bronze
• Barfleur, Memorial of the Mora of Barfleur, 1966 (ship of William the Conqueror in 1066), large bronze medallion sealed on a rock at the entrance of the harbor for the 900th anniversary of the event.
• Barentin (Seine-Maritime)
  • The Great Owl (Franklin-Roosevelt Square) acquired in 1951
  • Plaque du Général Giraud (rue du Général-Giraud), 1954
• Rouen
  • Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, Biche et son faon, bronze
  • Museum of Natural History of Rouen, Bust of Henri Gadeau de Kerville, bronze, 1936
  • Place du Général-de-Gaulle, Stele and bronze portrait of General de Gaulle
  • Court of Appeal of Rouen, bust of Louis Ricard, installed in the Salle des Pas perdus
• Palaiseau, Museum of the École polytechnique, Bust of Etienne Louis Malus, physicist (plaster)^[21]
• Eu, Louis-Philippe Museum of the Castle of Eu, Joan of Arc Medal
• Nice, Musée national du Sport, Medal of the 1968 Winter Olympics Grenoble^[22]
• Rambouillet, collections of the Château de Rambouillet
• Sèvres, Musée de la Manufacture de Sèvres, Les toucans, 1935
• Pacy-sur-Eure, Notre-Dame de la prudence (height 4 meters) along the route nationale 13 linking Paris to Deauville. Commissioned by the dean of Pacy-sur-Eure in 1958

United Kingdom[]

• London, British Museum, Médaille des 1968 Winter Olympics Grenoble^[23]

Italy[]

• Roma, Villa Médicis

Brasil[]

• Brasilia, , Vase decorated with ram's head

Honours[]

• Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour
• Knight of the National Order of Merit
• Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
• Knight of the Order of Cultural Merit (Monaco) (Monaco)

Bibliography[]

• Jean-Jacques Pinel, Histoire de 140 familles. Témoignages de 70 descendants. 2 siècles d'industrie à Rouen, Rouen, 2008
• Emmanuel Bénézit, Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, tome 3, 1976 et 1999, page 91
• Edward Horswell, Sculptures of Les Animaliers 1900 – 1950, Scala Arts and Heritage Publishers Ltd, Londres, 2019 (exposition Sculptures of Les Animaliers 1900 – 1950, Sladmore gallery Londres, 2019)
• Pierre-Maurice Lefebvre, Hommage à Josette Hébert-Coëffin (1907–1973),^[24] Précis analytique des travaux de l'Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Rouen année 1973, Fécamp, Édition L. Durand & Fils, 1975
• Josette Hébert-Coëffin sculpteur et médailleur, Éditions Sciaky, Paris, 1974
• Robert Rey, Josette Hébert-Coëffin, Édition les Gémeaux, Paris, 1954
• , À l'écoute de la Normandie… et des Normands, Sotteville-lès-Rouen, Éditions A. Allais, 1975 (Josette Hébert-Coëffin et le général de Gaulle, 16 pp.)^[25]
• Visite à l’atelier de Mme Josette Coeffin, sculpteur à la Manufacture de Sèvres, UNF. Union nationale des femmes : revue des électrices, Paris, 1 février 1946^[26]

References[]

External links[]

• Media related to Josette Hébert-Coëffin at Wikimedia Commons
• Website Getty Images – Josette Coeffin sculpting, Photo taken Jan 1st 1930
• Biography Josette Hébert Coëffin website of the Manufacture de Sèvres