Leopold Kretz, Pomnik francuskiego ruchu oporu, 1949-1951, wapień i piaskowiec, Crest, Francja, photo Andrzej Pieńkos, 2016
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0, Source: Instytut Polonika, Conditions d\'autorisation
Photo montrant Monument to the French Resistance in Crest
Leopold Kretz, Pomnik francuskiego ruchu oporu, 1949-1951, wapień i piaskowiec, Crest, Francja, photo Andrzej Pieńkos, 2016
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0, Source: Instytut Polonika, Conditions d\'autorisation
Photo montrant Monument to the French Resistance in Crest
Leopold Kretz, Pomnik francuskiego ruchu oporu, 1949-1951, wapień i piaskowiec, Crest, Francja, photo Andrzej Pieńkos, 2016
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0, Source: Instytut Polonika, Conditions d\'autorisation
Photo montrant Monument to the French Resistance in Crest
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ID: POL-001323-P/134967

Monument to the French Resistance in Crest

ID: POL-001323-P/134967

Monument to the French Resistance in Crest

Variants of the name:
„Monument à la Résistance”

In the green-filled square in front of the railway station's facade, a small space has been set aside among the hedges for a memorial to the local World War II resistance movement. On a low stone pedestal rests a stone figure of a lying, wounded or dying young man; the inscription 'Résistance / 18 juin 1940 / 8 mai 1945' (Resistance / 18 June 1940 / 8 May 1945) is carved on the front of the pedestal. In 2016, the Grain d'Orge atelier carried out cleaning and partial conservation of the statue's cavities and the very dirty plinth. Despite these works, the condition of the sculpture is not good, it shows clear signs of weathering. The signature "Kretz" is faintly visible on the left side of the base of the sculpture. Attached to the pedestal, a new brass plaque names the sculpture 'Le Résistant mourant (The Dying Resistance Fighter)', mentions the author and his life dates, and mentions Mayor Charles Armorin, who unveiled the monument in 1951 and initiated its erection. Kretz, already working in Paris before 1939, enlisted in the Polish army in France after the outbreak of war and fought in the French Resistance after its surrender. Crest, together with the whole of the Drôme department, was in the so-called free zone from 1940, and from 1942 to 1943 was placed under Italian jurisdiction. After their surrender, it was under open Nazi occupation. It is located near the Vercors plateau, a famous nest of the French Resistance.

The artist specialised in portraiture and the nude, consistently sticking throughout his work to figuration, conceived quite traditionally and cultivated in the group Les Neuf, of which he was a member. He received a number of French public commissions after the Second World War, including statues for the stadium in Angers, figures of archangels by the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, also a statue of miners in the Belgian town of Marcinelle. He was also to design unspecified monuments for Cassis and Marseille. Kretz's enormous creative output, left behind in Paris, has, however, not yet been elaborated. The Musée Wlerick-Despiau, which specialises in sculpture of the inter-war period, received a bequest from the artist's widow of the entire contents of his studio and, from 2015, began to conserve and document the sculptor's works and correspondence. A small part of his oeuvre was shown there in an exhibition in 2017. The memorial at Crest remains unpublished and its seemingly unique form among French commemorations of the victims of the Second War unnoticed. The artistic value of the sculpture itself is currently difficult to assess due to its state of preservation, the secondary porosity of the texture making it impossible to determine, for example, the nature of the modelling.

Related persons:
Time of origin:
1949-1951
Creator:
Leopold Kretz (rzeźbiarz, malarz, rysownik; Polska, Francja)(aperçu)
Keywords:
Author:
prof. Andrzej Pieńkos
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