Louis Leygue (1905-1992), French sculptor, Premier Grand Prix de Rome and member of the Académie des beaux-arts, evolved his art from the human figure towards a powerful abstraction in bronze and steel. Galerie 125 offers an original lithograph by the artist.
Born in Bayonne in 1905 and died in Paris in 1992, Louis Leygue is among the great French sculptors of the 20th century. Trained in the academic tradition, he went beyond it to invent a language of free forms, reaching out into space, which still marks many public sites.
After training as a sculptor in Paris, Leygue won the Premier Grand Prix de Rome for sculpture in 1931 and stayed at the Villa Medici. Active in the Resistance during the Second World War, he retained from those years a gravity that permeates part of his work.
After the war, he taught sculpture for many years at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he trained several generations of artists. His election to the Académie des beaux-arts in 1969 crowned a career spent between the studio, teaching and major public commissions.
His early works remain attached to the human figure, treated with great economy of means. Gradually, the body fades in favour of slender volumes, blades and corollas that play with light and void. Bronze, then stone and stainless steel became the materials of this lyrical abstraction.
Leygue worked extensively for public spaces, notably under the 1% artistique scheme: schools, administrative buildings and new neighbourhoods host his sculptures. The Fontaine des Corolles at La Défense is one of the best-known examples. Like many sculptors of his generation, he also expressed himself through drawing and printmaking.
The gallery presents an original lithograph by the artist, Personnages (1963), on Vélin paper measuring 27 x 21 cm, signed in the stone and countersigned in ink. A fine opportunity to enter the graphic universe of a sculptor. Some works find a buyer quickly: check the page regularly as new pieces are acquired.
Examine the signature (in the stone and, where applicable, in pencil or ink), the numbering of the edition, the quality of the paper, the margins and the overall condition of the sheet.
Starting from the human figure, his work evolved towards an abstraction made of slender forms, blades and open volumes, in bronze and steel.
In public spaces, notably at La Défense with the Fontaine des Corolles, as well as in many establishments built under the 1% artistique scheme.
These works can be ordered online in a few clicks, with a certificate issued by the gallery and careful, tracked and insured shipping. They can also be seen in Argancy, near Metz, by appointment. Do you own a work by Louis Leygue? Discover how to sell it on our Sell a work page.