Musée Bouchard

Henri Bouchard built his studio in Auteuil in 1924. Following his death in 1960, his widow initially opened the studio to visitors. In 1962, the Association of the Friends of Henri Bouchard was founded, and the atelier began regular public opening on an informal basis, initially on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 2 pm until nightfall. The family resisted pressure to sell the property, and in 1969 François Bouchard, the artist's son, became owner, securing the works. His wife Marie Bouchard, who earned a diploma from the Louvre School and the official title of museum curator, managed the collection and developed scholarly expertise on the artist's oeuvre. The museum was officially listed as a Musée de France by the French Ministry of Culture in 1985. From 1986 to 2007, approximately thirty temporary exhibitions explored themes in Bouchard's work and the evolution of his style. By 2006, the expanding collection had outgrown the studio space. On 13 December 2006, the Ministry of Culture approved the transfer of the preserved studioibe studio and 1,300 works to the Musée de La Piscine in Roubaix. The Musée Bouchard closed permanently in March 2007. The studio was reconstructed at La Piscine and opened to the public in 2018.

The museum's holdings encompassed the full range of Henri Bouchard's output from 1891 to 1960, representing his development from constructed realism through calm decorative art to monumental sculpture. The collection comprised over 1,000 works, including bronze casts, stone sculptures, original plaster works, ceramics, and marble. Supporting documentation was extensive: approximately 1,200 dossiers of different works, 57 sketchbooks, correspondence, posthumous photographs, and the artist's personal library. The museum also held numerous deposits from the State, the City of Paris, Dijon, and private collectors. This archive allowed curators to trace Bouchard's working methods, his evolving style, and his place among peers, drawing on the moulds, frames, turntables, and tools left in the studio.

Among the most significant works was a large figure of Apollo, originally displayed on the terrace of the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. The collection's breadth reflected Bouchard's interest in a wide variety of themes and his creation of pieces in every possible format. While the museum held the core of his studio production, his works are also distributed across numerous French institutions. In Paris, pieces can be found at the Musée d'Orsay, the Petit Palais, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Musée de la Marine, the Musée Rodin, and the Cabinet des Médailles, which holds the largest number. More than twenty works are displayed in Dijon, his birthplace, with additional pieces in Poitiers, Lyon, Chartres, Langres, and Le Havre. Public works in Paris include tombstones at Père Lachaise Cemetery.

The museum occupied Bouchard's purpose-built studio at 25, rue de l'Yvette in the 16th arrondissement, constructed in 1924 in the Auteuil quarter. The building retained the atmosphere of a working sculptor's atelier without reconstitution, preserving the original layout with its tools, equipment, and accumulated works. By 2006, the gradual growth of the collection had filled the space beyond capacity. A Paris Histoire de Paris panel was installed in front of the building. Following the 2007 closure and transfer of collections, the studio was physically reconstructed at the Musée de La Piscine in Roubaix, where it opened in 2018.