20th-century French sculptors

Ernest Chaplet (1835 in Sèvres – 1909 in Choisy-le-Roi) was a French designer, sculptor and ceramist. He was a key figure in the French art pottery movement, and his works are held in international public collections such as the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
Having worked in industry for over 30 years, he opened an atelier with the sculptor Albert-Louis Dammouse in 1882, producing stoneware often influenced by Japanese designs and Chinese prototypes. From 1875 he worked with Félix Bracquemond. Chaplet became head of the Parisian workshops of Charles Haviland of Haviland & Co. in 1882, working in stoneware and porcelain for them. He worked on ceramics with Paul Gauguin from 1886; together they created some 55 stoneware pots with applied figures or ornamental fragments, multiple handles, painted and partially glazed. He later worked with Jules Dalou and Auguste Rodin.
From 1887 Chaplet took up permanent residence at Choisy-le-Roi, often collaborating with the ceramics manufacture Alexandre Bigot. He won acclaim at the 1900 International Exhibition, but lost his sight in 1904, after which his son Emile Lenoble took over his studio. He committed suicide in 1909.

Robert Combas (born 25 May 1957, Lyon) is a French painter and sculptor. He lives and works in Paris.
He is widely recognized as a progenitor of the figuration libre movement that began in Paris around 1980 as a reaction to the art establishment in general and minimalism and conceptual art in particular.
Figuration libre is often regarded as having roots in Fauvism and Expressionism and is linked to contemporary movements such as Bad Painting and Neo-expressionism. It draws on pop cultural influences such as graffiti, cartoons and rock music in an attempt to produce a more varied, direct and honest reflection of contemporary society, often satirizing or critiquing its excesses.
Combas’ own work has always been strongly rooted in depictions of the human figure. The figures are often in wild, violent or orgiastic settings. Usually on large, often unstretched canvases, Combas crowds his flat pictorial space with a teeming proliferation of bodies, street poetry and designs reminiscent of the compulsive patterning in much folk and outsider art. He creates hectic narratives of war, crime, sex, celebration and transgression—in short, every phase that makes up the constant flux of modern life. In recent years a strong autobiographical strain has been evident in his work, which was present only on a subliminal level, if at all, in the earlier work.
Combas often seems to be offering the work as critique—of both the art establishment and society at large. The recent painting “I am greedy man” features a densely layered jostle of bodies, with the foreground dominated by transparent line figures, the background occupied by monochromatic figures and the middle ground reserved for two more fully realized figures, one in a business suit and the other muscular and shirtless. They dance in a swirl of text which seems to have no discernible beginning or end but which may be read as: “I am greedy man/ Please shout me babe/ Soul serenade is a lot of pussy/ Pussy gone on the Eiffel Tower/ My Eiffel Tower is long and large.” The lampoon of a society where all are anonymous except in the individual recognition of need and gratification is typical of Combas’ work throughout his career.
While Combas’ works often seem to carry an element of shock or confrontation, he insists the images are meant to engage the viewer, and their execution in vibrant color and bold, unfettered line communicate a spirit of proletarian camaraderie that offsets the tendency to overwhelm, in the larger works especially.
In a biographical note on Robert Combas’ official website the artist asserts his aim is to

“provoke, that is, to trigger a reaction in the spectator only to ‘invite’ him, beckoning him in and whispering in his ear ‘come over and talk to me, I want to tell you about the stupidity, violence, beauty, love, hatred, seriousness and fun, the logic and senselessness that pervade our day-to-day lives’ ”.

Thérèse Peltier (1873 – 1926), born Thérèse Juliette Cochet, was a French sculptor and early aviation pioneer. Popularly believed to have been the first ever female passenger in an airplane, she may also have been the first woman to pilot an aircraft. A friend of fellow sculptor Leon Delagrange, when he became interested in aviation Peltier soon followed.

Henri-Albert Lagriffoul (9 May 1907 – 22 August 1981) was a French sculptor who won the Prix de Rome in 1932. His work is displayed in many public spaces in France. His head of "Marianne" appeared on the French coins from 1962 to 1970. He also competed in the art competitions at the 1948 Summer Olympics.

Jeanne Bardey (April 12, 1872 – October 13, 1954) was a French painter and sculptor who lived in Lyon.She was born in Lyon. She is known for being the last student of Auguste Rodin. In 1916, Rodin described Jeanne Bardey as his heir, but his last wishes were not respected, and she was removed from his legacy. More than 600 of her sculptures are contained in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon. Other pieces are held by the Musée d'Orsay. Bardey had a daughter, Henriette.

Pierre Richard-Willm (3 November 1895 – 12 April 1983) was a French stage and film actor during the 1930s and 1940s.

Mathilde de Morny (26 May 1863 – 29 June 1944) was a French aristocrat and artist. Morny was also known by the nickname "Missy" or by the artistic pseudonym "Yssim" (an anagram of Missy), or as "Max", "Uncle Max" (French: Oncle Max), or "Monsieur le Marquis". Active as a sculptor and painter, Morny studied under Comte Saint-Cène and the sculptor Édouard-Gustave-Louis Millet de Marcilly.

François-Rupert Carabin (17 March 1862, in Saverne, Bas-Rhin – 28 November 1932, in Strasbourg) was a French cabinetmaker, photographer and sculptor. His work was representative of the Art Nouveau style.

Louis-Oscar Roty usually known as Oscar Roty (11 June 1846 – 23 March 1911) was one of the most celebrated medallists of the Art Nouveau period.

Yann Goulet (or Yann Renard-Goulet; 20 August 1914 – 22 August 1999) was a French sculptor, Breton nationalist and war-time collaborationist with Nazi Germany who headed the Breton Bagadou Stourm militia. He later took Irish citizenship and became professor of sculpture at the Royal Hibernian Academy.