What initially got my attention with this Louis Ragot bronze
was the portrait of a wild haired hermit, which put me to mind of our own
George Ohr, (1857 to
1918) the Mad Potter of Biloxi who was a temporal contemporary of Ragot.
Ohr’s wild hair and mustache is iconic here
on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and we have had our share of hermits and
flamboyant artists.
Another Gulf Coast
personality that comes to my mind is
Walter Anderson (
Shearwater Pottery),
whose extended sojourns on the Gulf islands painting and drawing was rather
hermit-like.
Louis F. Ragot is best known today for his bronze plaques,
sundials, and his medals, but there is a lot more to him than his art. There is not much biographical information
available about Ragot, but I did find that he was born in Paris and exhibited
at the Salon of 1882 of the Académie des Beau-Arts, Paris. He “exhibited a very beautiful
Portrait-medallion of a Child” there.[1]
I understand that Louis Ragot was part of the famous Ragot line of
French sculptors, painters and bronze workers whose works have graced France
for many years. Louis Ragot was the
pupil of Louis Auguste Hiolin, a French bronze sculptor who lived from 1846 to
1910. Ragot had two sons, Henri[2]
and Charles, [3] but I have no information about his wife at this
time.
The Ragot family emigrated from France in 1894 to the United
State and set up shop in the resort town of
Milford in Pike
County, Pennsylvania, in what was then known as Hermitage Glen.
He possibly also had an inn (or bed and
breakfast as we call them now) on the property called The Hermitage.
Certainly he set up his studio there and
worked at least part of the year in Milford.
His property had a number of buildings with sculptures of the Hermit on
buildings and trees, as well as a grotesque downspout for a spring there at the
Hermitage.
I don’t know if any of these
things still survive, but the two Hermitage postcards I have used to illustrate
this article show some of Ragot’s work at Hermitage Glen.
I understand that Ragot also had a residence on Long Island
(NYC), on Lexington Avenue, although I haven’t found the years of his
occupation there. He wasn’t inactive in
the New York area, as Ragot was supposed to have designed and cast a number of
decorations and embellishments for a Harlem church. Although the year of this work is unknown, but probably around
the time of the Harlem real estate building boom 1899-1905 and certainly before
the Panic of 1907, which destroyed the real estate market in Harlem. He made bronze fittings and light fixtures
for the church there. Alas, I don’t
have the name of the church, the demonination or even know if it’s still standing.
Hopefully some reader will send in the information.
Hermitage Glen takes its name from the colorful story of
Amos Wilson
(born 1774), known as the Pennsylvania Hermit who took to a cave and lived in
isolation for 19 sorrowful years, dying in 1831, and from the later popular
book about Wilson,
The Pennsylvania Hermit, published 1839 about the
remorseful hermit.
Hermitage Glen was
apparently a popular location and was mentioned as a beautiful stop near Milford,
PA in the Jan 1912 edition of the
Automobile Blue Book, Vol 3, pg 69,
which was an early automobile tourist guide “… Milford, with many nearby
beauties of nature, among which are the Saw Kill Cascade, Raymondskill Falls,
Vandermart Creek and Hermitage Glen.”
Louis Ragot and his son Charles, were inventors and they
patented a new design rotary internal combustion engine (patent 1302709, May
6, 1919, see image) as well as an early airplane (see image), which he and his
sons Henri and Charles built around the end of 1910 in Milford and exhibited in
NYC.[4] [5] [6]
With that introduction as to the versatility and genius of
Louis Ragot, I have featured here a gold washed bronze plaque of the
Pennsylvania Hermit that I acquired a few years back. I was intrigued by the wild-haired man, but also the fine casting
of the work. I was completely
unfamiliar with the art of Louis Ragot and so I began doing research and this
article is the product of inquiry.
This Hermit bronze is 5 ¾ inches across at the widest point
and 5 ¼ inches tall. It is a cast in
the shape of a scallop shell with the wild-haired hermit on the obverse with
“Hermitage” and a presentation text on the rim, “Mr Mme H. Juventy. 17 Fev = 1906 Milford P.A.” On the reverse, which has a shell-like
texture, is the rim inscription, “Copyright 1903 by L. Ragot”. The weight of the piece is 263 grams and the
plaque is pierced for hanging. I have
not been able to discover the identity of Mr & Mme Juventy and why they
would rate a custom-made presentation plaque with their names and the date of
visit.
Interestingly, scallop shells[7] have a long
history as the badge of a pilgrim who had been to the Holy Land. I’m sure this point wasn’t missed by Ragot
since the area featured resorts and tourists traveled through the area, on
pilgrimage so to speak, for a number of years.
Milford was quite small, but featured a good number of different post
cards for tourists to buy and mail.
Some of which I show in this article.
I have seen only one other bronze Ragot Hermit Plaque for
sale and it was substantially the same as this one, but varied with the text
and it did not have a hole for hanging.
On that example, there was no gold wash present, although it may never
have had a gold washed finish. The pictured hermit in
this example has below it, “The Hermitage’s Hermit,” making clear that this is
a portrait of the hermit and not Ragot himself. The rim has text also, “L. F. Ragot, Sculptor Milford, P.A. Clearly, these Hermit plaques were limited
edition and some had dedicatory text.
These Hermit plaques are large and double-sided, a typical Ragot touch
that appears in his medallist works as well.
Among other surviving Ragot art works are a number of large
bronze cast sundials with various finishes, ranging from 12 to 16 inches
square, which appear at auction occasionally.
Many of them have classical motifs and figures although one is a
commemoration of Halley’s Comet in 1910.
His sundials were not only works of art, they were fully
functional. They were custom made and
some even had the latitude and longitude engraved. That would mean that the gnomen was individually calibrated to
correctly tell time when the sundial was installed in its proper place. I have also heard of a bronze turtle made by
Ragot, but I have yet to have turned up a photo or full description. This is an ongoing investigation and
hopefully folks will comment and give us more information to add to this
article. See also footnote [8] and the Other Works section below.
Louis Ragot is a well-known medallist among numismatic
collecting circles, see below for Other Works by Ragot. His medals and plaques are among some of the
best produced in the US in the first quarter of the 20th century and
are avidly sought by advanced medal
collectors. See Other Works below.
I had to cobble together this bio from a variety of sources,
many of which are fragmentary, some are substantiated and few well
documented.
There are still a lot of
holes.
I have tried to filter the
sources, weigh the evidence and put together a coherent article despite these
limitations.
If there is a verifiable
error or omission, I hope people will post a response here and add to the
limited information available about the diverse talents of Louis Ragot.
At this time I don’t even have a birth or
death date for Louis Ragot but his art is not forgotten.
I really need a photo of Louis Ragot for
this article.
I am sure time will only
add to our store of knowledge and this will be an on-going biography.
Other Works by Ragot
Ragot designed several classically inspired bronze sundials,
as well as a Haley’s Comet sundial [0] many of which still come up for auction
from time to time.
He continued to
produce medals, including a tribute to Russian author
Tolstoi, an official
inaugural medal of President Woodrow Wilson from 1917.
He also produced WWI medals such as his
General Pershing medal, “Lafayette we are here,” commemorating the arrival of
the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in Europe.
The name Louis Ragot is quite well known primarily in the
metallic collectors circles, but not as well know as a sculptor outside of
medals, plaques, and sundials.
Ragot also wrote a booklet.
According to the 1909 Catalogue of Copyright Entries: Pamphlets,
leaflets contributions … Volume 6, Books, Group II, Ragot wrote a book called
Hermit’s
Book in 1909 and it was 23 pages with illustrations:
A 239973, May 21. 1900: 2 c June 1
1909.
But I don’t know if the book was
about himself, Hermitage Glen, the hermit Amos Wilson or all of the above.
Hopefully somebody will bring this pamphlet
to light.
I found this entry in 1918 Catalog of Copyright Entries:
“Musical compositions, Part 4, Volume 13:
Ragot (Louis F.) Milford Pa. [9257
They Shall Not Pass. Sculptured
figure of France silhouetted against Rock of Gibraltar, with French fighting
cock forming her helmet, fighting off German eagle C 1 c. Oct 4, 1918; g
56840”. This was perhaps an
illustration for sheet music made from a photo of one of his works, which would
explain its inclusion in the music section.
Exonunia
Auction June 22, 2013 Baltimore
Catalogue auction 83: “Lot
141. Stunning Wilson – Liberty plaque
by Louis Ragot, 1919. 7 ¼ bronze. Louis F. Ragot, Sc. Extremely fine with a
suspension hole above Wilson’s head. On
the reverse a light dent on the nose and some scuffing disturbs the otherwise
dark patina. Obverse with Woodrow
Wilson founder of the League of Peace
around a profile bust of Wilson to the left. Signed on the truncation, “Jan 25, 1919 Louis F. Ragot.” The reverse portrays a spiked head of
Liberty superimposed over a world globe.
A raised band around is inscribed:
Justice Peace Liberty 1919”.
FOOTNOTES (because I talk too much and run out of room)
[1] From
Biographical Dictionary of Medallists
Coin Gem and Seal Engravers Mint Masters with References to their Works
B.C. 500-A.D. 1900 by L. Forrer (pub 1912 Spink & Son Ltd, London), Vol V,
P 19 “Ragot, Louis
(French). Contemporary Sculptor, born
at Paris: pupil of Hiolin. At the Salon of 1882 he exhibited a very
beautiful Portrait-medallion of a Child.”
[2] Henri Ragot helped to build a model of the aeroplane and
did photographic studies of birds in order to help design the craft. Louis and
Henri Ragot later built a pusher canard monoplane, which was based on a
George D. White design, the White Canard Monoplane.
[4] Pike County Press (Milford, Pennsylvania), Friday,
July 29, 1910, Page 1. ... ‘The Ragot boys are
building an aeroplane at the Hermitage) which they expect .. “
[6] The New York Times article Dec 28, 1910: BOY BUILDS AEROPLANE FROM BIRD MODELS; Boy
of 17 Uses Snapshots of Them on the Wing to Work Out a New Principle. “There is a new aeroplane at the Garden City
Aviation Field, built on a principle representing what aeroplane constructors
have hitherto sought to avoid, and manned by a crew that has never yet been in
the air. It made its first appearance on the field yesterday morning, and the few
veteran aviators who are making Winter quarters at Garden City, saw several
things in it to marvel at”.
[7] The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
v.0.48 says, “One species (Vola Jacobaeus) occurs on the coast of Palestine
[now Israel], and its shell was formerly worn by pilgrims as a mark that they
had been to the Holy Land.
[8]
http://issuu.com/freemansauction/docs/1477 page 52, 548A
Four bronze sundials
Louis F. Ragot, sculptor, Milford PA
1910-1920
The first of Square
form with gladiator riding in horse drawn chariot in front of radiant sun; the
second and third, of circular form with signs of the zodiac, one titled “Know
Thyself” and the other with phrase “Ye are born under a good star if ye know ye
self” and the forth, of rectangular form entitled “Halley’s Comment Sundial”
with shooting star gnomon, all signed by the artist
16 ½ X 16 ½
in
LINKS OF INTEREST ON RAGOT, MILFORD AND THE HERMIT
A copy of the book, The Pennsylvania Hermit, pub 1839
Just Because I Can: Michael W. Moses Pottery, another Gulf Coast
Potter
