34 boulevard de Clichy
Figure no. 07
Studio first half of 20th C.
Sculptor

Pierre-Luc Feitu

16 April 1868 — 1 February 1937

Breton sculptor active in the first half of the 20th century. His Paris studio at 34 boulevard de Clichy is documented by his family and by the INHA's Agorha authority record. A career moving between Paris, Brittany and international exhibitions — New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Mexico City.

In the first half of the 20th century, 34 boulevard de Clichy housed the Paris studio of Pierre-Luc Feitu, a Breton sculptor. His work combines official commissions, commemorative monuments and bronzes — divided between Paris (where he exhibited and worked) and Brittany, his native region.

A presence documented by the family and by the INHA

The studio at no. 34 is mentioned explicitly by the official website sculpteur-feitu.fr, run by the Feitu family (Yves Feitu), which brings together a biography and a gallery of works. The Agorha authority record of the Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA) gives the dates "Feitu, Pierre, 16/04/1868 - 01/02/1937, sculpteur" and refers to the Feitu/Germain correspondence with Jean-Émile Laboureur (1914-1926), held at the INHA library (Jacques Doucet collections, shelfmark Autographes 185, 84).

A career between Paris, Brittany and the wider world

A sociétaire of the Société des Artistes Français, Feitu made his Salon debut in 1901 with Portrait d'homme, a plaster bust. The Galeries Georges Petit and the Petit Palais showed his works; he also exhibited in New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Mexico City. The Bénézit records that he made the sword of Albert Iᵉʳ, King of the Belgians. Works in the Musée de Brest. Studio at 34 boulevard de Clichy.

Pierre-Luc Feitu sculpting a life-size female nude statue, with his model posing beside it
Feitu in his studio, with his model and a life-size female statue.
The classic layout of an early 20th-century sculptor's studio: a living model, a plaster being modelled, bronze sketches in the background. Family archive photograph.
Pierre-Luc Feitu modelling a large draped figure, prophet or Christ, in his studio
Feitu modelling a large draped figure — prophet or Christ.
The studio then holds several works at once: a statuette in progress on a stool, bas-reliefs on the wall, and the large figure on the right. Archive photograph.
Pierre-Luc Feitu posing beside La Danse, monumental sculpture of a woman with putti, Mexico 1940, Presidential Palace
"La Danse" — Mexico, 1940, Presidential Palace.
Archive photograph mounted in an album, handwritten caption. Monumental sculpture of a woman surrounded by dancing putti. Feitu's presence at the Presidential Palace in Mexico City illustrates the international dimension of his career.
Pierre-Luc Feitu working on the maquette of a monument, draped female sculpture in the background
Feitu at work on the maquette of a monument — draped sculpture and palm tree in the background.
Probably a preparatory maquette for a commemorative monument, one of the many official commissions Feitu carried out between Paris and Brittany.
Portrait of Pierre-Luc Feitu in later life, wearing a beret, posing beside a draped female statuette
Feitu in later life, wearing a beret, in his studio.
Late portrait (probably 1930s). Behind him, a large male sculpture with a raised arm; on the table in front of him, a draped female statuette — sensitive modelling of the folds and of the twist of the body.
Pierre-Luc Feitu dressed as a street newspaper vendor, wearing an enormous sombrero bearing the masthead of the daily L'Ami du Peuple, posing with a pile of newspapers and a stand reading « en Vente ICI »
Feitu as a street vendor of L'Ami du Peuple, around 1930. Photograph by Albert Harlingue (1879–1964).
An unusual shot: the Breton sculptor plays along and takes on the role of a street vendor, an enormous sombrero on his head serving as an advertising banner for François Coty's daily (launched in 1928). The photograph is the work of Albert Harlingue, a Parisian photographer established from 1905 in rue Sevestre in the 18th arrondissement. A reporter for the illustrated agency bearing his name, he documented Parisian political, military and artistic life for six decades — from the trenches of 1914-18 to artists' studios. On his death in 1964, his 70,000 or so negatives entered the Roger-Viollet collection.
Anecdote — a curious political palimpsest. The daily whose masthead Feitu sports was the creation of the multimillionaire perfumer François Coty (1874-1934), who also controlled Le Figaro. Launched on 2 May 1928 and printing up to a million copies in 1930, L'Ami du Peuple had been created to counter the influence of L'Humanité — Coty having been alarmed to see his own employees reading the communist daily. A far-right, xenophobic and antisemitic newspaper, it counted Marshal Joffre among its prestigious readers. Now L'Humanité is the direct heir of L'Internationale, whose lyrics were written in 1871 by Eugène Pottier — another tenant of 34 boulevard de Clichy, two generations earlier. No. 34 thus brings together under one roof, half a century apart, the anthem of the world proletariat and the walking signboard of its most virulent adversary. Nothing suggests, however, that Feitu embraced the paper's political line: Harlingue's photograph is above all a piece of schoolboy staging.

Continuity of the studio vocation

His presence at no. 34 extends the building's vocation as a place of studios, already attested for Pottier, Dargaud and later Hella Guth. Over more than a century, no. 34 has thus kept its discreet but constant reputation as an artists' enclave. On his arrival Feitu probably shared the premises with Henri Marre (studio 4) and with Petit Georges (the music-hall singer, resident around 1914), before being followed, at a distance, by Hella Guth (1951-1992).

About the works. Pierre-Luc Feitu having died in 1937, his works entered the public domain in 2008 (70 years after his death). Photographic reproductions of these works nevertheless remain the property of their authors or of the institutions that hold them. To consult the iconographic catalogue, see sculpteur-feitu.fr.

Sources & resources

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