Henri Laurens Prints and Multiples

Henri Laurens was born in Paris in 1885. Impaired by tuberculosis when he was only 17, he was leg-amputated seven years later. First a stone cutter, he then became a sculptor. In 1899, he studied drawing. Laurens was strongly influenced by cubism, he discovered as soon as 1908 at La Ruche. Attracted by the Montparnasse artists group, in 1911, he started sculpting in a cubist way. Friends of Juan Gris and Picasso, Laurens was also extremely close to Braque (who considered Laurens as a brother). Laurens who dedicated most of his work to the human face destroyed a lot of art pieces only to leave the ones accomplished. Laurens being recognized worldwide, his last 10 years production (La Grande baigneuse, 1947, L'Automne, 1948) was bought by the most famous museums. “His way of breathing, touching, feeling, thinking becomes an object, becomes sculpture.“ wrote Giacometti. Laurens died in 1954 in Paris.