Emile Joseph Carlier, “Gilliat and the Octopus”, Marble, 1880-1890, Museum of Fine Arts, Lyon

Emile Joseph Carlier was a French sculptor born in Cambrai, France. He received his education at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts. He was a member of the Art Nouveau Movement in France. The white marble sculpture “Gilliat and the Octopus” was inspired by Victor Hugo’s book, “Les Travailleurs de la Mer” (The Workers of the Sea) in which Gilliat, a fisherman, fights an octopus in his attempt to retrieve a motor from a sunken wreck.