France - pointe de Grave (La France - pointe de Grave)

Albert Bartholomé was initially commissioned to create a monumental sculpture for the Pointe de Grave, at the mouth of the Gironde, to commemorate the commitment of American troops to France in 1917. The lighthouse that would accompany the sculpture was designed by the architect André Ventre. In 1922, Bartholomé recommended Bourdelle, who imagined a “symbolisation, France, a single figure, yet numerous, numerous through the support of plans and moral materials” (Letter from Bourdelle to Arnault, 28 January 1923). Something of Athena (Minerva) can be seen in the attributes of this figure standing vigil, clad in armour; at the tip of her spear, branches of the olive tree of peace; to her right, the great shield of Law. And the coils of the Serpent of Wisdom to her left.  In 1923 Bourdelle presented a plaster model, with a reduction of the lighthouse, at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. In 1925 he completed a half-size version (4.60 m high) and then the full-size version (9 m high). Due to a lack of funds, the project was scaled back, but the French government commissioned a monumental bronze version for the 1925 International Exhibition of Decorative and Industrial Arts. Bourdelle also used the figure of France for the 1914-1918 war memorial in his home town, inaugurated in 1932.

Colin Lemoine