Léopold-Bernhard Bernstamm

Sculptor. Born in Riga in the family of Adolf Bernstamm (1859). Studied at David Jensen’s studio in St Petersburg (from 1872), Society for the Encouragement of the Arts (until 1877) and the Imperial Academy of Arts (1878–83, extern student). Sculpted thirty busts of Russian writers, artists and scholars, including Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1881). Moved to Italy (1884) and France (1885). Sculpted commissions for the Russian court and contributed to exhibitions in St Petersburg. Principal sculptor of the Musée Grévin in Paris. Sculpted busts and statuettes of Émile Zola, Gustave Flaubert, Auguste Rodin, Jules Massenet, Frédéric Liszt, Hector Berlioz, Sarah Bernhardt, Sadi Carnot and Félix Faure. Cavalier (1891), officer (1897) and commander (1908) of the Légion d’honneur. Lived permanently in France (from 1914). Donated plaster casts of famous Russians and Frenchmen to the Musée Lambinet (early 1920s). Died in Menton (1939). Contributed to exhibitions and a one-man show at the Galerie Petit (1890).