Lucien Schnegg (1864-1909). Practitioner Of Rodin. Museum. Child.

Lucien Schnegg comes from a family from Bavaria, whose members were cabinet makers. His younger brother, Gaston Schnegg, is also a sculptor and painter. Lucien Schnegg began his training with an ornamentalist where he practiced direct carving. At the age of 19 in 1883, he obtained the first sculpture prize from the municipal drawing school of the city of Bordeaux and, the following year, joined the studio of Alexandre Falguière at the École des beaux-arts de Paris. . Little assiduous in classes, he prefers to study by drawing in museums. He presented a first work, a portrait of his brother Gaston, at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1887. In 1898, the two brothers wrote a letter to Auguste Rodin to support him against opponents of his Monument à Balzac [4]. From 1902, Lucien Schnegg worked as a practitioner for Rodin. At the same time, he gathered around him young sculptors in search of a new aesthetic, breaking away from Rodin's expressionism. These sculptors, including Charles Despiau, Alfred Jean Halou, Jane Poupelet, Robert Wlérick, are called the “Bande à Schnegg [5]”. In 1903, Lucien Schnegg was successful by presenting the bust of Jane Poupelet at the Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts (marble, Paris, Musée d'Orsay [6]). The same year he was instigated by a banquet given in honor of Rodin who had just received the Legion of Honor. He died of typhoid fever in 1909. An exhibition was devoted to him at the Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts the following year. To help the bereaved family, Rodin organizes, with the help of Gaston Schnegg, a raffle. He declared on this occasion: “He had the courage to be a true sculptor: he drew so much from himself like the reformers. He left works along the way, even more beautiful ones, then a full masterpiece: The Bust of the Republic. Also he carved on houses, palaces, with a taste returned to the beautiful times that he understood with passion. In the decoration he was intuitive and a wise adviser. The enthusiastic sculptor did not desire unnecessary pride, but he had the pride of one who feels real and poor. Death put him in his place with the heroes of work [7] ”.