Photo : © Christian Devleeschauwer
Victor Hugo, walking, cane and hat in his right hand, head tilted, left hand beneath his chin, coat blown by the wind.
Jean-Marie Théodore Boucher (sculptor)
School, country: France
Cesson-Sévigné, November 20, 1870 – Paris, June 17, 1939
1922
Material: Bronze
Technique: Casting
Dimensions (H x W x D in cm): 70 x 62 x 40
Weight: 47,500 g
Provenance: Bequest of Paul-Louis Camuset, 1946
Place of Conservation: Museum of Fine Arts (inv. 948.12.1)
Jean Boucher was originally commissioned to create this sculpture by King Carlos I of Portugal during a visit to Paris in 1906, with the intention of dedicating a monument to Victor Hugo in Lisbon. However, the king’s assassination in 1908 brought the project to an end. The sculptor subsequently presented his plaster model at the Salon des Artistes Français. The French state then acquired the work and, together with the Victor Hugo Society, initiated negotiations with England and the authorities of Guernsey to offer the sculpture to the island. Jean Boucher wished to execute the piece in marble, but cost considerations led to the choice of granite instead. The completed statue was entered into the inventory of the marble depot on July 22, 1913. It was installed the following year in Guernsey, at Saint Peter Port, in the Candie Gardens, and officially inaugurated during ceremonies held on July 7 and 8, 1914. Bronze reductions were later cast by the Valsuani foundry [source: Musée Carnavalet, Paris].
The work installed in Guernsey received significant commentary. In the Chroniques d’Art, on July 7, 1914, Guillaume Apollinaire, in an article entitled "À propos du Victor Hugo", wrote:
"Jean Boucher did not seek to rival Rodin, and it is not the Titan he has sculpted, but the man—the exiled poet dreaming of his homeland and awaiting inspiration by the sea. Jean Boucher’s work captures, with rare success, all these memories of the turbulent life of the great and prolific poet (...)."
Previously, at the Salon des Artistes Français on April 29, 1913, Apollinaire had already described the sculpture as "a work of magnificent sweep" [source: Artcurial, Paris, March 2019].