Selections From the LASM Collection: Francois Brochet February 17, 2010

Francois Brochet is best known for his polychromed, carved wood figures. His father, Henri Brochet, was a well-known painter, writer, and dramatist. At an early age, Francois was apprenticed to sculptor Fernand Py, under whose tutelage in Auxerre, France, he learned woodcarving, drawing, and polychromy (the art of colorfully painted sculpture, found frequently in medieval European church interiors and religous sculptures). This display of Brochet's sculptures and lithographs demonstrates the sensitivity and spiritual nature characteristic of his major undertakings. His most ambitious and well-known work is The Massacre of the Innocents, a collection of 20 carved figures, 10 of which are life sized. It garnered critical success when first shown in 1960. All of LASM's holdings by Brochet date from this period, including three polychromed wood sculptures titled 'Mother and Child.'