Fanny Rozet, France ​(1881–1958)

An Overlooked Pioneer of Sculpture 

“This wretched art is better suited to great beards and ugly mugs than to a woman relatively well-endowed by nature.”
— Camille Claudel, letter to Eugène Blot, 1905

​Long considered a male domain, the profession of artist was even more restricted when it came to sculpture. Deemed too physical, too virile, the discipline was seen as incompatible with feminine sensibility. 

Fanny Rozet was one of the women who defied the conventions of their time to establish themselves in a field that was forbidden to them, or at least, strongly discouraged. Born Stéphanie Amélie Mismaque in Paris in 1881, she was trained from a young age by her father, the sculptor Auguste René Rozet (1858–1939), whom she saw as a role model. She was an active member of the Union des Femmes Peintres et Sculpteurs (Union of Women Painters and Sculptors), and in 1899, she was among the first—if not the very first, according to some sources—women admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, a prestigious hub of artistic training. In 1904, after joining the studio of sculptor Laurent Marqueste, she became the first woman to be admitted to the prestigious Chenavard competition on her first attempt—and she won first prize.

​The following year, she broke another barrier by becoming the first woman deemed eligible to compete for the Prix de Rome. While she was not yet admitted to the “lodge”—a secluded studio system where candidates were required to complete a composition within a set timeframe— she was finally admitted in 1909 with her piece Venus Saving Helen from Death. She placed 16th in the competition, while her contemporary Lucienne Heuvelmans won the Second Grand Prize.

Fanny Rozet
Terracotta study, circa 1930, terracotta
Signed : Fanny Rozet

In 1914, Fanny Rozet was working at 9 Cité Falguière, a lively hub of artistic innovation and modern expression. Despite the progressive environment, she remained one of the very few women sculptors in this creative circle. From the 1920s onward, Rozet gradually shifted her practice towards the decorative arts, notably collaborating with ceramicist Henri Chaumeil. She created elegant Art Deco statuettes, at a time when the movement was flourishing—and sculpted decorative reliefs for a hotel on the Champs-Élysées. For example, a small terracotta sculpture created around 1930, depicts a young woman in motion, full of grace, and may well be a preparatory study for her bronze Dance of the Old Times (1930), an example of which is held by the Galerie Artz in Paris.

Throughout her career, Rozet exhibited in numerous salons: the Salon des Artistes Français from 1904 onward, the Salon des Tuileries, the Union of Women Painters and Sculptors (1921–1947), the International Colonial Exhibition of 1931, and the Society of French Colonial Artists in 1935.

Despite her exceptional career, Fanny Rozet remains largely unknown today. Her name is absent from textbooks and exhibitions dedicated to 20th-century French sculpture. And yet, she was a true pioneer—the first woman to reach several key milestones in the academic training of a sculptor—and a fully accomplished artist in the world of decorative arts. Where they have not been lost, her works are scattered across private collections, often surfacing in auction houses or through antique dealers.​

Edith Varez 
Art Historian
​
Translated from French by Katarina Lupert

For bibliography and French version

© L'AiR Arts and Cité Falguière Associations, 2025