Jo Davidson

   
   Becheron in Saché, France  
 
Jo Davidson bought Becheron in Saché, France in 1926 for weekends and holidays away from his studio in Paris.  Laurent's parents took over Becheron after his grandfather's death in 1952.  Laurent said that he will never forget his grandfather's studio filled with busts of all sizes. 		 
     
     
   Jo's studio in Paris on the rue Leconte de l'Isle.   
 

In this photo is the heroic size bust Delano Roosevelt. Behind him and on the right is a model of the figure of Walt Whitman that is in Bear Mountain State Park in Bear Mountain, NY.  Along the wall of shelves is a sampling of the numerous busts he made.

 

     
     
   Helen Keller and Jo Davidson  1945
 		 
 
Helen Keller and Jo were very close friends.
Here she is photographed "looking" at her portrait
with her hands. The portrait is wonderful and
captures Helen Keller's enthusiastic spirit.


 
     
 

This photo was taken at the Stork Club in New York
City. Jo is signing into Helen Keller's hand.  She loved
to feel the vibration of the music through the floor.		  

         
   
      
   Frank Sinatra and Jo Davidson  1946
      

         
         
   Gertrude Stein and Jo Davidson   1922  (photo by Man Ray)
      

         
         
   President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Jo Davidson  1948
      

     
     
  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with Jo Davidson
15 Buckingham Palace Mansions  London  1930
 		 

     
     
   Charlie Chaplin and Jo Davidson  1924
  
     
     
  Jo Davidson on the White House grounds with his bust of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt  1933
 		 
     



Jo Davidson (1883 - 1952), was a renowned American artist who worked mostly in portraiture sculpture. He was Laurent's grandfather. 

Jo Davidson made around 450 portraits in his lifetime, a feat that may never have been duplicated to this day.  The subjects of these portraits were from all walks of life.  They were historical figures, presidents, writers, thinkers, artists, politicians, generals, socialites, actors and anybody whose faces inspired him.  In 2006, The Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery opened a permanent exhibition, "Jo Davidson: Biographer in Bronze", showcasing fourteen of his works in terracotta and bronze.  He also did heroic and life-size figurative sculptures in bronze and stone.


     
     
   Albert Einstein  1934