Charles Despiau

Charles Despiau (November 4, 1874 – October 30, 1946) was a French sculptor and teacher. He also worked as a draftsman, graphic artist and book illustrator.

Early life Charles-Albert Despiau was born at Mont-de-Marsan, Landes and attended first the École des Arts Décoratifs and later the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. He began exhibiting at the Salon des Artistes Français, from 1898 to 1900; then at the less academic Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, where he showed from 1901 to 1921, and finally to the Salon des Tuileries, where he exhibited from 1923 to 1944.

Career

French sculptor Auguste Rodin hired him as an assistant in 1907. The Museum of Modern Art in New York owns the bronze Assia, perhaps his best-known work.

The largest collection is in his native Mont-de-Marsan, in a museum he shares with Robert Wlérick, established in the Donjon Lacataye. Despiau produced a total of 150 sculptures and 1,000 drawings over a fifty-year career.