Prix Blumenthal

Robert Antral (Châlons-en-Champagne July 13, 1895 – Paris June 7, 1939) was a French painter and printmaker, mainly of etchings. He won the Prix Blumenthal in 1926 and the Croix de Guerre for his bravery in World War I.

Maximilien Vox (real name: Samuel William Théodore Monod) was a French writer, cartoonist, illustrator, publisher, journalist, critic art theorist and historian of the French letter and typography.He was born on 16 December 1894 in Condé-sur-Noireau in Calvados, where his father was a minister, and educated at the Corneille school in Rouen.
In 1914 he published his humorous cartoons in L'Humanité, Floréal and La Guerre Sociale and became editor of Le Mot, the review produced by Paul Iribe. Most of his cartoons were signed Sam Monod or Esmono. Monod adopted a number of aliases before settling on Maximilien Vox. After getting married he went to Paris to learn typography, and in 1926 was awarded the Prix Blumenthal, worth 20,000 Francs, for a series of 24 book covers.
During the Second World War he worked as a department head for the Ministry of Information, whilst at the same time continuing his editorial activities. In 1942 he founded The Union Bibliophile de France, which published artworks.
After the war he concentrated on typography and created in 1949 the professional magazine Characters, which he edited until 1964. He created the VOX-ATypI classification of type characters.In 1952 he moved to Lurs to live in a house he called Monodière and founded Rencontres internationales de Lure. He died there on 18 December 1974 and was buried in Lurs. He had married Eliane Poulain in 1917 and had five sons.

Robert Couturier (2 May 1905 – 1 October 2008) was a French sculptor. He was born in Angoulême.

Paul Belmondo (8 August 1898 – 1 January 1982) was a French sculptor. He is the father of the actor Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Germaine Richier (16 September 1902 – 21 July 1959) was a French sculptor.Born in Grans, Richier began her studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Montpellier, in the atelier of Louis-Jacques Guigues; in 1926 she went to work with Antoine Bourdelle, remaining in his studio until his death in 1929. There she became acquainted with Alberto Giacometti, although the two were never close. Richier for her part was more interested in a classical approach to sculpture, preferring to work from a live model and then reworking the final product. She also met César Baldaccini at this stage in her career. She married Otto Bänninger on 12 December 1929. In 1936, she won the Prix Blumenthal. During the war, she met Marino Marini, in exile in Switzerland.

Jacques Rivière (15 July 1886 – 14 February 1925) was a French "man of letters" — a writer, critic and editor who was "a major force in the intellectual life of France in the period immediately following World War I". He edited the magazine La Nouvelle Revue Française (NRF) from 1919 until his death. He was influential in winning a general public acceptance of Marcel Proust as an important writer. His friend and brother-in-law was Alain-Fournier (Henri Alban-Fournier), with whom he exchanged an abundant correspondence.

Roger Désormière (French pronunciation: [ʁɔʒe dezɔʁmjɛːʁ]) (13 September 1898 – 25 October 1963) was a French conductor. He was an enthusiastic champion of contemporary composers, but also conducted performances of early eighteenth century French music.

Georges Elbert Migot (27 February 1891 – 5 January 1976) was a prolific French composer. Though primarily known as a composer, he was also a poet, often integrating his poetry into his compositions, and an accomplished painter. He won the 1921 Prix Blumenthal.

Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (French: [pɔl valeʁi]; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, music, and current events. Valéry was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 12 different years.