Nationalmuseum Sweden acquires Verner Åkerman`s sculpture of Pierre Louis Alexandre
(Artdaily.org)

Nationalmuseum has recently acquired a sculpture in terracotta by Verner Åkerman depicting Pierre Louis Alexandre. Pierre Louis Alexandre is primarily known as a model at the Academy of Fine Arts in the latter part of the 1800s and there are many surviving studies of him. However, the acquired sculpture is the only one of its kind known today. Pierre Louis Alexandre (1844-1905) was born in French Guiana and came to Stockholm in 1863, probably as a stowaway on an American ship with a cargo of pork. Here he made his living as a dock labourer, but has primarily become known as a model at the Academy of Fine Arts. In the archive sources he appears with the Swedish surnames of Pettersson and Alexandersson. It was at the academy that the sculptor Verner Åkerman (1854 – 1903) met Pierre Louis Alexandre. He made his