(b Vevey, 2 April 1863; d Munich, 21 May 1913). Swiss sculptor. Following studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Geneva, he completed his training in Paris, first under Henri Chapu and then under Alexandre Falgui?re. From 1892 to 1896 he worked for Rodin, whose influence had a lasting effect on his oeuvre, and led him to choose 'Rodo' as his pseudonym. He worked chiefly in Paris, but made regular visits to Switzerland; there he executed commissions for sculptural decoration of such buildings as the H?tel des Postes in Geneva (1892), the H?tel des Postes in Neuch?tel (1895) and the new Bundeshaus in Berne (1900), and participated in exhibitions (35 between 1890 and 1913). In Paris, Niederh?usern frequented Symbolist circles and produced several bronze busts of Paul Verlaine, finally receiving a commission for a monument to the poet (Paris, Jard. Luxembourg), which occupied much of his life between 1898 and 1911. He exhibited his work at the first SALON DE LA ROSE + CROIX in Paris, organized by Jos?phin Peladan in 1892; his friends, the painters Ferdinand Hodler and Albert Trachsel (1863-1929), who also exhibited there, shared the Symbolist ideas that imbued his sculptures. His subjects, such as Alpine Poem (destr.), were already showing defiance of the technical limitations of realistic sculpture; later he turned to cosmic motifs, such as Venus Passing before the Sun (1912; destr.). From 1906, Niederh?usern devoted himself to creating a Temple of Melancholy (drg, 1905; Geneva, Mus. A. & Hist.), dedicated to Dante and to Beethoven; the high reliefs in plaster that he made for this have been destroyed. His three-dimensional approach was not unlike that of Rodin, and can be seen as a response to Rodin's Gates of Hell (see RODIN, AUGUSTE, fig. 3). At the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris Niederh?usern was awarded the Gold Medal for sculpture, and received the L?gion d'Honneur in 1912. Shortly after his death, the Salon d'Automne held a retrospective of his work. He remains one of the most significant Swiss sculptors of the turn of the century, and his influence on the plastic arts
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