Paul Maximilien Landowski

Paul Maximilien Landowski was born on 1 June 1875 in Paris, the son of a family of Polish descent. After secondary studies at the College Rollin and preparatory literary classes, he entered the Academie Julian in 1893, studying under Jules Lefebvre, before entering the Ecole nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he trained for five years under Louis-Ernest Barrias. In 1900 he won the Prix de Rome in sculpture for his David combattant Goliath, which earned him a residency as a pensionnaire at the Academie de France a Rome, at the Villa Medici, from 1900 to 1904.

His sculpture Les fils de Cain, shown at the Salon des Artistes Francais in 1906, established his reputation. He went on to produce major public commissions across France and abroad, including Aux artistes dont le nom s'est perdu, installed under the dome of the Pantheon in Paris, and Les Fantomes, a war memorial group at the Butte de Chalmont commemorating the Second Battle of the Marne. He served in the First World War and received the Croix de guerre; the available sources do not specify the exact year or engagement.

His best known work, the colossal Christ the Redeemer above Rio de Janeiro, was inaugurated in 1931, a collaboration with the Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa. In 1928 he won an Olympic gold medal in sculpture for Le Pugiliste at the art competitions held alongside the Amsterdam Games. He was elected to the Academie des Beaux-Arts in 1926, and directed the Academie de France a Rome at the Villa Medici from 1933 to 1937.

Landowski died on 31 March 1961 at his home in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, at the age of 85. In 1982 his heirs donated his studio collections to the City of Boulogne-Billancourt, which now holds and displays his work at the Musee Paul-Landowski, within the Espace Landowski.

Institutional accounts describe Les fils de Cain, shown at the 1906 Salon des Artistes Francais, as having met with strong critical acclaim and establishing his reputation at the age of 31. His subsequent elevation within the French art establishment, election to the Academie des Beaux-Arts in 1926, together with his direction of the Villa Medici from 1933 to 1937, reflect the esteem in which he was held by official French cultural institutions during his lifetime. No exact, attributable quotations from named critics writing in major outlets have been located in the sources reviewed for this profile, so none are reproduced here.

Landowski's auction market is thin and its records are sparse compared with better-documented modern and contemporary artists. The best documented high price identified in current sources is EUR 50,000, paid in 2014 for a bronze titled Les fils de Cain (also cited as Die Sohne des Kain), though the auction house and exact sale date for that result are not recorded in the sources available. A separately documented result comes from Doyle in New York, where a sculpture by the artist sold for USD 11,875 against an estimate of USD 5,000 to 7,000; the exact title and sale date of that lot are not given in the source. There is no evidence in current sources of a major saleroom result comparable to his historical importance; his most significant work, Christ the Redeemer, is a permanent public monument and is not a transactable market asset.

There is no catalogue raisonne for Landowski, and no current commercial gallery or dealer represents his estate. His studio holdings passed to the City of Boulogne-Billancourt by donation from his heirs in 1982 and are held at the Musee Paul-Landowski, which functions as the primary institutional reference point for questions of provenance and attribution. Public auction supply is limited and skews toward smaller bronzes and studies rather than major exhibition pieces, and documented prices vary widely, so any single result should be treated with caution rather than as a stable benchmark. The bulk of his lasting value is expressed through public monuments and museum holdings, most notably Christ the Redeemer, rather than through an active private market.