Léon Mignon

He set up his studio in Paris in 1876 in collaboration with Paul de Vigne, then settled permanently at Schaerbeek. He won a gold medal at the Paris Salon for his sculpture Li Tore, the Bull-Tamer (illustration) which provoked polemics from critics for its combination of nudity with forthright realism. Li Tore, set up at Liège, became the mascot of the students, who hid it in the cellars of the Académie to protect it during World War II. The bull has become an emblem for all Liège, with the city motto "Liège, forcer l’avenir!", "Liège, make the future happen!" A bronze on a similar theme, his Le Dompteur de Taureaux (1881), which had been noticed at the retrospective exhibition of Belgian sculpture the previous year (in its plaster model), and was championed by Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns, Minister of the Interior, stands on the Terrasses d'Avroy, Liège. Though a scarf had been added to the model to disguise the figure's nudity, the sculpture scandalised the editors of the Catholic daily, La Gazette de Liège. One among his animalier sculptures is to be seen at the Botanical Garden of Brussels: The Olive Tree, or Peace, representing an agricultural worker with his ox. His early Combat de taureaux dans la campagne romaine is conserved in the Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. Other sculptures include Hide-and-Seek and Lady Godiva. Both Schaerbeek and Liège possess a rue Léon Mignon.

Léon Mignon studied at Royal Academy of Arts of Liège. Training under Prosper Drion, Charles Soubre and Auguste Chauvin is recorded. The recorded working language is French. Places of work recorded in the authority are Rome and Paris. Residence is recorded at Liège and Rome. Works named in the authority record are Li Torê. Work by Léon Mignon is recorded in the collections of Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and Musée Carnavalet. Distinctions recorded are Boursier de la fondation Lambert Darchis.