Robert Laurent (June 29, 1890 – April 20, 1970) was a French-American modernist figurative sculptor, printmaker and teacher. His work, the New York Times wrote,"figured in the development of an American sculptural art that balanced nature and abstraction." Widely exhibited, he took part in the Whitney's 1946 exhibition Pioneers of Modern Art. Best known for his virtuoso mastery of the figure, Laurent sculpted in multiple media, including wood, alabaster, bronze, marble and aluminum. His expertise earned him major commissions for public sculpture, most famously for the Goose Girl for New York City's Radio City Music Hall, as well as for Spanning the Continent for Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. After the Depression, he was also the recipient of several Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project commissions under the New Deal, including a bas-relief called Shipping for the exterior of Washington, D.C.'s Federal Trade Commission Building, commissioned by the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts in 1938.
Background
Laurent was born the son of French peasants in Concarneau, Brittany, France in 1890. His skill in art was recognized by Brooklyn Eagle art critic, painter and collector Hamilton Easter Field who mentored him, taught him to paint and served as Laurent's surrogate father for the rest of his life. before formally studying at the British Academy. Upon graduation, Laurent moved permanently to the U.S. at age twenty, only to quickly return to Europe as a member of the navy during the First World War. In Europe, Laurent traveled to his native Brittany where he met Mimi Caraes, who became his wife.
Field died in 1922, leaving Laurent his Brooklyn home, the Ogunquit school they had co-founded and an art collection, which Laurent later used to establish as the Hamilton Easter Field Foundation with the help of other New York artists.
The Ogunquit Summer School of Graphic Arts
In the summer of 1902, Field and 12-year-old Laurent traveled to Ogunquit, Maine, a popular destination for artists, drawn by the landscape. During their stay, Field "bought a row of shacks that he started renting out cheap to artists."
There was, however, another art school in Ogunquit. Founded by Field's former teacher, Charles Woodbury's Ogunquit Summer School of Drawing and Painting was heavily influenced by the "regional impressionist" style of painting also known as the Boston School.
Awards and honors
250px|thumb|Robert Laurent, Goose Girl, ca. 1932, cast aluminum, [[Radio City Music Hall, New York City|alt=|left]]
In 1938, Laurent won the second of two Logan Prizes at the Art Institute of Chicago's annual American art exhibition. Prior to the exhibition, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) threatened to remove many of the artists who had been accused of links to communist activities. After President Eisenhower intervened, however, the exhibition went on as planned.
Laurent was a fellow of the National Sculpture Society, president of the Hamilton Easter Field Foundation, and a member of the Sculptor's Guild – Indiana Artists, New England Sculptors Association, and the College Art Association. He was also elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters shortly before his death at the age of seventy-nine. In addition to teaching seasonally at the Ogunquit School until 1961, Laurent accepted a position as Professor of Fine Arts at Indiana University, a position he held from 1942 to 1960.
Family
Laurent's son, John, was a prominent painter in Maine, known for his landscapes and seascapes.