François-Raoul Larche was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...

 sculptor

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

 whose work included several figures of Christ

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

, but who may be better known for his numerous female figures, both nude

Nudity

Nudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...

 and draped.

He was one of several artists inspired by the dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

r Loie Fuller

Loie Fuller

Loie Fuller Loie Fuller Loie Fuller (also Loïe Fuller; (January 15, 1862 – January 1, 1928) was a pioneer of both modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques.-Career:...

; one of his best-known statues depicts Fuller dancing with part of her drapery billowing above and behind her head like a flame.

Another well-known sculpture, Les Violettes

Violet (plant)

Viola is a genus of flowering plants in the violet family Violaceae, with around 400–500 species distributed around the world. Most species are found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere; however, viola species are also found in widely divergent areas such as Hawaii, Australasia, and the Andes in...

, depicts a group of nude children with an older girl who may be their mother or older sister. Their bodies are entwined with flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

 stems and leaves and they are all wearing petal bonnets, suggesting that they are meant to represent the spirits of flowers.

External links

• Photos of works by Larche, page 1 of 3 (RMN)
• Gilded bronze electric lamp in the shape of the American dancer, Loie Fuller (National Gallery of Australia
  National Gallery of Australia
  The National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery.- Establishment :...
  
  )
• L'apotre (ewolfs.com)
• Tempete et ses Nuees (iCollector.com)
• Seated female nude (treadwaygallery.com)
• Jesus as a boy (p4a.com)
• Skinner Inc. catalogue with image of gilt Les Violettes statuette (pdf
  Portable Document Format
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  )