PIERRE-JULES MÊNE SCULPTURES FOR SALE & BIOGRAPHY
PIERRE-JULES MÊNE
French, 1810-1879
BIOGRAPHY
“A Parisian,” writes Jane Horswell in Les Animaliers, “Mêne seemed to have good fortune throughout his whole career. He was born on the 15th March, 1810, at 84 Rue du Faubourg St. Antoine, and was the son of Dominique Mêne, a metal turner. He was taught the rudiments of sculpture and founding by his father, and when he married at twenty-two, he was earning his living making models for reproduction by the porcelain manufacturers, these models being much in vogue at the time. He received further tuition from the sculptor, René Compaire, and finding a very definite talent for animal sculpture, he went about it thoroughly, spending his time at the zoo, where he could study his subjects and make diligent sketches and studies. His progress was rapid, and after he exhibited at the Salon of 1838 for the first time, his efforts were well rewarded. He received the first class medal twice, and many other awards, including the Cross of the Legion of Honour in 1861. His career was assured, and he was a regular exhibitor at the Salon up to the year of his death.
“Mêne lived for part of his life in the Faubourg du Temple and operated his own foundry, moving, around 1857, to 9 Rue de l'Entrepôt. He issued a combined catalogue with his son-in-law, Cain, from this address, where he lived until his death. Talented, industrious and popular with the public, he did not need to solicit support in official circles — only one of Mêne's works "The Mounted Huntsman and his Hounds”, was acquired by the State in his lifetime — he was content to live and support his family from his work, and was certainly one of the most prolific and successful sculptors of the animalier school... Exhibiting in England at the Great Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862 —there could have been no doubt of his success there, he was the Landseer of sculpture — it is probable that as much of Mêne's work came to nineteenth century England as remained in France.
“Mêne's sculpture is of particular importance when discussing the work of the nineteenth century animalier school today as, working in a style in such direct contrast to Barye, and never to be as renowned in his own lifetime as his contemporary, he has nevertheless emerged after over a century as one of the foremost sculptors of this school. Barye was the initiator, and developed his own style, which had a profound effect on the future of sculpture but it was Mêne who surpassed all in his portrayal of animals in the realist form. He is today the one most associated with and typical of the animalier school as a whole. Although one or two of Mêne's earlier works show the romantic influence of Barye (the "Tiger and Alligator" for example), he discarded this and went his own way, creating sculpture of animals directly from nature. Unposed and very much alive, his subjects are captured in a fleeting movement, picturesque in every detail. Mêne's animals are often individual portraits with 'humanised' personalities — in many cases one knows their actual names.
“Two painters particularly influenced Mêne: from Landseer he found not only subject matter, but an expressive element, sentimentality, which is in no way detrimental; from the Frenchman, Carle Vernet, whose work he admired and personally collected, he captured the verve and spirit of the painter's compositions in sculptural form.
“Much of Mêne's life, like Fratin's, must be pure conjecture, as there is a dearth of biographical detail available, but it is known that his house in the Rue de l'Entrepôt was a meeting place for his many friends among the sculptors, painters and musicians of Paris who were attracted by his personality and his innate taste for all the arts. Benevolent and good-humoured, he was doubtless a contented man, and this, rather obscurely perhaps, has made Mêne one of the most collected animalier sculptors today.”
[Jane Horswell, Bronze Sculpture of “Les Animaliers”, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1971, pp. 103-4]
Museum Collections
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD
Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Canton Museum of Art, Canton, OH
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Glasgow Museums, Glasgow
Musée des Beaux-Arts, La Rochelle
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Courtauld Institute of Art, London
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen
Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron, Telford
Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
