1930, France. NIL SINE MINERVA – LES MUSÉES NATIONAUX – M. BARTHOUX. By Pierre Turin (1891-1968. Grand Prix de Rome in 1920). Cast bronze 108mm. $850.

Pierre Turin was born in Sucy-en-Brie (Val-de-Marne) on 3 August, 1891. He trained as a steel engraver and became a student at the École Nationale Supèrieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris. He studied medal engraving under Henri Auguste Jules Patey and Fréderic-Charles Victor de Vernon. He participated several times in the competition for the Grand Prix de Rome for medal engraving, receiving a deuxième second Grand Prix in 1914, a premier second Grand Prix in 1919 and finally winning the competition in 1920. He had a distinguished career as a medalist and designer of coins.  He is noted for his many works with a bold, Art Deco style, in particular the prize medal from the 1925 Exposition Internationale Des Arts Decoratifs Et Industriels Moderns in Paris. In 1938 he was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur. Turin died on July 25, 1968 in Sucy-en-Brie, where he had been born.