Joseph Erhardy

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Joseph Erhardy (born Josef Herzbrun; May 21, 1928 – May 1, 2012) was an American sculptor associated with the Nouvelle Figurative movement. He was born in Welch, West Virginia, and died in Paris, France, at age 83. He was married to Melanie Van Muyden and they had six children: Claudius, Katherine, Elisabeth, Thomas, Anne, and Mary.

In 1949, during a time of American abstract art, he left the United States to study classical sculpture in Florence at the Accademia di Belle Arti. In Rome he worked as an assistant to Mirko Basaldella, who had worked for Arturo Martini, a figure Erhardy admired. He moved to Paris in January 1952 and lived there for the rest of his life. After an abstract phase, he returned to figurative sculpture by the late 1960s. He formed friendships with fellow Paris-based artists such as Sam Szafran, Raymond Mason, Roseline Granet, Philippe Roman, and Francois Jousselin, and his work was linked with the ideas of art critic Jean Clair.