Souvenir Medal Musée d'Orsay François Pompon - Polar Bear - Monnaie de Paris

This souvenir medal is a tribute to the famous sculpture, Polar Bear by François Pompon (1855-1933). Kept at the Musée d'Orsay.

For many years, Pompon was one of the most sought-after assistants in Paris, hewing blocks of marble for Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel. But after 1905, in reaction to Rodin's...

This souvenir medal is a tribute to the famous sculpture, Polar Bear by François Pompon (1855-1933). Kept at the Musée d'Orsay.

For many years, Pompon was one of the most sought-after assistants in Paris, hewing blocks of marble for Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel. But after 1905, in reaction to Rodin's expressionism, Pompon abandoned the human figure and turned to the animals that he observed at the Jardin des Plantes. Polar Bear is the finest achievement in this vein; when it was exhibited at the Salon d'Automne in 1922, it brought the artist tardy recognition, at the age of sixty-seven.