Michel Gustave Frédéric Olympe

Gustave Michel, born in Paris, is a French sculptor and medalist. At the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he became a pupil of François Jouffroy (1806-1882).

Gustave Michel exhibited for the first time at the Paris Salon in 1875 where he was noted for “Hebe and the Eagle of Jupiter”. He also participated in the Universal Exhibitions of 1889 and 1900. Appreciated by critics, he received public commissions to decorate monuments of Paris such as the facade of the Opéra Comique, the Alexandre III bridge, the Bir-Hakeim bridge, the Galliera palace…
Gustave Michel often creates allegorical figures represented as women with harmonious contours. His works are admired for their formal beauty and the serenity they exude. He was very famous during his lifetime.

Some works:
– Hebe and the eagle of Jupiter (1875).
– Le Ruisseau (plaster, 1877).
– The victorious love (1887).
– Form emerging from matter (Musée des Beaux-arts, Lille, 1889).
– Commemorative monument to the French Revolution (Châtellerault, Vienne, 1890).
– La Paix (Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Salon of 1890).
– Modern France (Pont Alexandre III, Paris, 1900).