Josette Hébert-Coëffin (16 December 1906 Rouen – 3 June 1973 Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French sculptor, medallist and a recipient of a 1937 Guggenheim Fellowship.
Early life and education Hébert-Coëffin was born on 16 December 1906 in Rouen, France. She studied at the École supérieure d'art et design Le Havre-Rouen under the direction of Victorien Lelong and earned first prize in sculpture and architecture at age 16 in 1922. She was later a student of Robert Wlérick and Charles Despiau in Paris. She later studied under Richard Dufour and worked in Alphonse Guilloux's studio.
Career In 1927, Hébert-Coëffin exhibited two busts, Beethoven and Resignation, at the Salon des artistes francais. In 1937, she received a Guggenheim FellowshipJournal de Rouen, 25 October 1937. and created models for the manufacture nationale de Sèvres. She also won gold medals at the 1937 World's Fair and the société d'encouragement pour l'industrie. She was elected to the académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Rouen the following year as the third female member after Colette Yver and Louise Lefrançois-Pillion. In 1939, she showed her work at the Salon des Arts Décoratifs. Between 1938 and 1947, she worked under Maurice Gensoli. Much of her work was destroyed during bombings that devastated the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres in March 1942. At this time, she began developing skills in chamotte (stoneware chamotte), as she found it suitable for depicting goat hair, hornbills, kiwis, and feathers. She drew much of her inspiration from fauna. In 1948, she painted La Biche et son faon for President Vincent Auriol and in 1950 illustrated the book Chats des villes et chants des chats by Yahne Lambray and Renée Herrmann.[Chats des villes et chants des chats by Yahne Lambray and Renée Herrmann, illustrations by Josette Hébert Coeffin, ed. de la Tour du Guet, Paris, https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb397657455]
Hébert-Coëffin spent time at the Monnaie de Paris learning to become a medallist. Throughout her career, she made nearly 300 medals, including one for René Coty. She was the first woman to be commissioned to create a medal for a head of state since the time of François the 1st She also created a medal for Charles de Gaulle. In 1968, she presented de Gaulle with a medal in honor of the Winter Olympics. The medal was later awarded to the French national team. Jean Cocteau requested her specifically for the creation of his medal after seeing her drawings of cats.
Personal life Hébert-Coëffin was married to industrialist and aviator Charles Coëffin. She died on 3 June 1973 in Paris and is buried next to her husband in Pont-Audemer's Saint-Germain Cemetery. She is surrounded by a grand-duc, her last unfinished work.
Selected works Sculptures Jean Tambareau, bust in bronze Henri Gadeau de Kerville (1936), bust in bronze - Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, Rouen, FranceJournal de Rouen, 20 December 1936, . Coupe aux Boeufs de Hongrie (1940), bronze Virgin and Child, known as Madonna statuette - Sainte-Foy Church, Lacalm, France Bas-relief (1947) - Hôtel des Postes, Rouen, FranceJournal de Rouen, 19 January 1947 The doe and her fawn (1948) Our Lady of Prudence (1958), statue, on the side of the route nationale 13 in Pacy-sur-Eure, France. Saint Vincent de Paul, bas-relief - Collégiale Notre-Dame d'Écouis, Écouis, France Monument to Tristan Bernard - Place Tristan Bernard, Paris, France Bust of Tristan Bernard - Comédie-Française. Commissioned by Comédie-Française, donated by Bernard's family, and displayed in the foyer. René Tamarelle, bronze medallion - Square René-Tamarelle, Bihorel, France William the Conqueror stele - Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, France Commemorative plaque of the Mora (1966) bronze plaque - Barfleur, France Plaque du Général Giraud (1954) - Barentin (Seine-Maritime), France Monument in bronze for Jean Perrin - Jardin des Champs-Élysées, (opposite the Grand Palais), Paris, France Bust of Louis Ricard - Court of Appeals, Rouen, France Stele and bronze portrait of Charles de Gaulle - Place du Général-de-Gaulle Bust of Etienne Louis Malus, plaster - Museum of the École polytechniqueBust of Etienne Louis Malus, physicist (plaster) École polytechnique
Medals The Pont Saint-Jean (Bordeaux) (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, Paris, France 1968 Winter Olympics, Grenoble (1968), bronzeMusée de Nice Medal owned by Marie-Elisabeth Escoda. Athletes selected to represent their country receive a medal at the end of the Olympics as a souvenir of their participation in the event. This practice begins from the first games of Athens in 1896 Joan of Arc (1431–1456) (1971), bronze - Monnaie de Paris, Paris, France Philippe Boiry (1927–2014) (1965) Dean Denis Leroy (1973) - Rennes, France Memorial of the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp liberation
Paintings Napoleon III : study for the allegory of France, charcoal drawing - Musée Hébert, Paris, France Ophelia with Cornflowers, painting - Musée Hébert, Paris, Francemusée Ernest Hébert Ophélie aux bleuets
Exhibitions France
1927: Salon des artistes français - Beethoven and Resignation, busts 1927-1939: Salon des artistes rouennais 1931: Salon des artistes français - bronze sculpture of the Société des artistes français 1933: Salon d'automneLe sculpteur Charles Despiau qui visitant un salon, avait remarqué sans connaître l'auteur un groupe de petits canards « voilà, dit-il, ce qui mérite la médaille » le maître avait tout de suite discerné dans la foule des sculptures l'œuvre qui révélait à la fois un véritable tempérament d'artiste et une sur connaissance du métier 1935: Salon des Indépendants. Acquired by the General Council of the Seine. 1936: Salon des Indépendants - sparrow. Stolen during the exhibition. 1936: Salon des arts ménagers - Le Toucan 1936: Salon d’automne - Oiseaux 1936: Exposition des Seize, Rouen - aviation monument, Ministry of Air 1938: Galerie L’Équipe - Abstract and Non-Objective Art exhibition 1938: Petit Palais - 33rd Group of Artist de ce temps41 expositions se sont déroulées au Petit Palais de février 1934 à juillet 1939. Les expositions ont été l’occasion d’acheter et de constituer un embryon de collection pour le futur musée d'Art moderne 1938-1953: Salon des Tuileries 1940: Salon d'automne 1962: Musée Carnavalet - Medal of the SS France (1960)Carnavalet Museum Medal liner France Unknown date: Château de Rambouillet
Austria 1957: Kunsthistorisches Museum - Modern French Medallists exhibition
Brazil Ambassade de France au Brésil - Vase decorated with ram's head
Italy Villa Médicis
United Kingdom 2006 (post-mortem): British Museum - Médaille des 1968 Winter Olympics Grenoble British Museum Josette Hébert Coeffin 2019 (post-mortem): The Sladmore Gallery - Sculptures of Les Animaliers 1900–1950
United States 1939: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation - Non-Objective Painting Collection. No. 7 and No. 8, oil on paper.[Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation New York catalog – exhibition of the collection of non-objective painting, Beginning of exhibition 1 June 1939. 2 works by J. H. Coeffin (oil on paper) as No. 7 and No. 8 (Number 219 and 220 in the exhibition catalog)] 1940: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation - Ten American Non-Objective PaintersExhibition « Ten American Non-objective Painters » Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York City 1951: National Gallery of Art - Medal Jean Cocteau
Awards 1934: Bouctot Prize (fine arts), Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Rouen 1936: Silver Plaquette, 21st annual competition organized by the Société d'encouragement à l'art et à l'industrie 1937: Gold medal, Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne 1937: Guggenheim Fellowship 1938: Membership, Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Rouen 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)
Further reading 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),Lefebvre, Pierre-Maurice, hommage à Josette Hébert-Coëffin (1907–1973), Précis analytique des travaux de l'Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Rouen 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 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[ revue des électrices, Paris, 1 février 1946, Visite à l’atelier de Mme Josette Coeffin https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k45514677/f5.item.r=coeffin#]
References
External links Website Getty Images – Josette Coeffin sculpting, Photo taken Jan 1st 1930