Enfilade

The brainchild of Laure de Margerie, the French Sculpture Census came online in December 2014 with its first 7,000+ records. Hosted by the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas with funding from a variety of institutions, the website aims to provide a list of French sculpture produced between 1500 and 1960 that can now be found in American public collections, museums, public buildings, historic homes, or displayed in public space. The completed census is expected to include between 15,000 and 20,000 records. More information is available here»

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From the Nasher Sculpture Center:

Stories from the French Sculpture Census
Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, 21 February 2015

From beloved works by Matisse and Rodin in museum collections to American icons like the Statue of Liberty, French sculpture has had a rich and indelible impact on the cultural landscape of the United States. In celebration of a new website that reveals the extent of this shared creative history, Laure de Margerie and panelists from the project’s international partner institutions will share stories of favorite works drawn from the database of the French Sculpture Census.

Laure de Margerie, Director of the French Sculpture Census, was Senior Archivist and head of the Sculpture Archives at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, from 1978 through 2009. In this position she curated several exhibitions including Facing the Other: Charles Cordier (1827–1905), Ethnographic Sculptor (Paris, Quebec City, New York, 2004/05). She was part of the team who installed the sculpture collection at the opening of the museum in 1986 and co-authored the collection catalogue (1986). De Margerie also worked as archivist in charge of historic buildings in Normandy in Rouen (1983–1985) and oversaw rights and reproductions at the National Archives in Paris (1991–1992). She was awarded a fellowship at the Clark Art Institute, in Williamstown, MA (2000/01), and was the Sculpture and Decorative Arts Department guest scholar at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, CA (Fall 2011).

The Census of French Sculpture in American Public Collections is the first comprehensive catalogue of French sculpture in the United States. It lists all existing French sculpture, dating from 1500 to 1960, in American public collections. Not only does it take account of works in museums, but also in historic houses, government buildings (the White House, for example), corporate collections, and public space. The scope of the census is vast, both in space and time, and currently includes 7,500 works by 680 artists in 305 locations.

Hosted by the Nasher Sculpture Center and supported by a consortium of institutions in the U.S. and France, the French Sculpture Census will be the largest existing website solely dedicated to sculpture. The Census of French Sculpture in American Public Collections is a project of the University of Texas at Dallas and the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, in coproduction with the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art (INHA), Paris, the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and the Musée Rodin, Paris, with the participation of the Ecole du Louvre, Paris.