The Godebski
Cyprien Godebski dans les années 1880
Jean Godebski (1901-1990) was a painter. He came from a very active family of artists from the 1850s. Originally from Poland, the Godebskis had come to France in the 19th century.
Cyprien Godebski (1835-1909), his grandfather, a renowned sculptor in the 1870s, benefitted from a good reputation in Poland, Austria, Russia and France. He travelled widely in Europe and had an intense social and cultural life.
From his first union with Eugénie Léopoldine Sophie Servais, he had three children: Franz (1866-1948), who became a violinist and composer, Ernest (1867-1890), who died in Tonkin, and Maria, better known as Misia Sert, pianist, muse of many impressionists and musicians of the early twentieth century.
Cipa, Jean’s father is the child of a second marriage with Mathilda Rosen.
Jean spent his childhood on Rue d’Athènes in Paris, in the warm family atmosphere, surrounded by his mother Ida (née Kaspareck) and his sister Marie-Anne.
Ida and Cipa held a salon very popular with artists of the time (1902 to 1914), including Maurice Ravel, with whom the Godebskis have a deep friendship.
Evening rue d’Athènes, at the Godebski
Meeting of musicians at M. Godebski. 1910, by Georges d’Espagnat.
We see Jean Godebski near his father Cipa, while De Ricardo Viñez is at the piano on which Maurice Ravel is leaning.
Our Lady Of Shipwrecks
Located at Pointe du Raz, in Finistère and inaugurated on July 3, 1904.
The work is made in memory of the son of the artist who died in Tonkin.
The 6-metre-high sculpture represents the appearance of the Virgin Mary to a shipwrecked sailor.
Cyprien Godebski (1835-1909)
As a young man, Jean Godebski was deeply moved by the landscapes of the Camargue, which awakened his painting and his art. He often stayed with his friend, the painter Jean Hugo, who had settled at the Mas de Fourques near Lunel. There, he met Marie-Thérèse de Bernis, with whom he fell deeply in love. He married her in 1937.