Georges Charles Barberis  ( 1880-1980 )

French sculptor associated with the academic tradition of twentieth-century monumental sculpture, Charles Barberis maintained a particularly strong connection with Madagascar and with the French colonial aesthetic of the interwar period.

At the age of seventeen, he entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied under the sculptors Jean-Antoine Injalbert and Fernand Pélez, known as Peter. There, he acquired a rigorous training rooted in Neo-Greek classicism and received several distinctions, notably the Lamaire and Chenevard prizes. From 1913 onward, he exhibited regularly at the Salon des Artistes Français, the Salon d’Automne, and the exhibitions of the Société Coloniale.

Mobilized during the First World War, Charles Barberis was awarded the Croix de Guerre. He notably witnessed the collapse of Tsarist Russia, an experience that left a lasting mark on both his artistic and personal sensibility.

In 1922, he received a travel grant awarded by the Governor-General of Madagascar to French artists. He then spent several years on the “Great Island,” between 1922 and 1926, a decisive period in his career. Fascinated by Madagascar, its people, and its landscapes, he created several major works inspired by Malagasy culture, includingThe Water Carrier, the celebrated bustRamatou, and the war memorial of Antananarivo. This body of work reflects an interest in ethnographic and exotic representation characteristic of certain strands of French colonial sculpture during the 1920s and 1930s.

Upon returning to France in 1927, Barberis contributed to the decorative works for the 1931 International Colonial Exhibition. Architect Albert Laprade entrusted him with the execution of the monumental bas-relief adorning the façade of the Musée des Colonies—today the Palais de la Porte Dorée in Paris—one of the most significant public commissions of his career.

In 1935, he completed the war memorial at Lake Anosy in Antananarivo by crowning it with an imposingWinged Victory, whose sculptural power sometimes evokes the influence of Antoine Bourdelle. He also produced several notable monuments and decorative sculptures, includingGlidingfor the Palais de l’Aviation, the statue of General Leclerc in Meudon-Bellevue, the monument to explorer Alfred Grandidier in the Tsimbazaza Zoological Park in Antananarivo, and the war memorial of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

A recognized artist during his lifetime, Charles Barberis became a member of the jury and committee of the Salon des Artistes Français, where he received the Grand Medal of Honor. He also served on the committee of the Salon de la France d’Outre-mer and within the Syndicat des Sculpteurs Statuaires. Awarded the Gold Medal at the 1937 International Exhibition, he was also a correspondent member of the Malagasy Academy from 1925 onward, before being elected full member of the Fifth Section of the Académie des Sciences d’Outre-Mer on July 4, 1958.

Today, Charles Barberis’s work remains relatively rare on the art market. Nevertheless, several important sculptures are known, includingCombat(1929),Child in a Cap(1932), andYoung Woman with Gazelle(1936), all of which testify to his taste for an elegant and synthetic figuration inherited from the Art Deco movement.