Merchant and museum curator
Also known as Henri Juillard Weiss
Born: 6 May 1846, Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, France
Died: 15 January 1930, Mulhouse
Died: 15 January 1930, Mulhouse
Father: Georges Fréderic Juillard, 1818-1887
Mother: Florence Mégnin, 1819-1876
Spouse: Mathilde Weiss, 1854-1924
Married on 22 July 1876 in Mulhouse.
Children:
- Henry 1880-1968
- Pierre 1881-1990
- Marianne Amélie 1888-1990
- Daniel 1893-?
Biographical information
Born in Strasbourg to a Franche-Comté family, he was raised by his mother to be staunchly French Republican. By the age of 16, Henri Juillard was living in Mulhouse, where he joined the musical society Concordia (Harrison, 1999). He continued his involvement in the society throughout his life, even becoming president at one stage.
In June 1870, when Henri was just 24 years old, a textile manufacturing company named Juillard et Mégnin was formed in Mulhouse, between Henri, his older brother Georges (Victor Georges Louis Juillard), his father Georges (Georges Fréderic Juillard), and a relative on his mother’s side, Georges Mégnin. The Franco-Prussian War began a month later and Henri worked as a volunteer nurse with the Ambulance de Mulhouse, in General Bourbaki’s Army of the East, throughout the war (Juillard, 1908). In 1871, at the end of the war, both Strasbourg and Mulhouse were under German rule, so Henri elected to settle in Épinal, France, but he later returned to Mulhouse.
By 1876 Henri had met his future wife Mathilde Weiss, and they married in Mulhouse on 22 July 1876. Possibly in an effort to seem less like an outsider to the Mulhousien community, Henri Juillard added Weiss to his surname - similarly his brother Georges became Georges Juillard Hartmann after he married Laure Hartmann. The Weiss and Hartmann families were long-established families of Mulhouse, part of the bourgeoisie, and linking the Juillard name to them would have undoubtedly helped in business dealings.
Having been interested in the fine arts since his youth, Henri spent much of his leisure time devoted to them (Société Industrielle, 1930). He was talented at drawing, and illustrated his published diary of the Franco-Prussian war himself. In 1883, when the Musée des Beaux-Arts (Museum of Fine Art) in Mulhouse moved into a newly building, Henri joined the museum committee and offered to help out the curator Alfred Favre, beginning a collaboration which lasted until Favre retired. Ten years later, Henri, who had the smallest share in Juillard et Mégnin, withdrew from the company in 1893, and devoted himself full time to his passion for the arts, officially becoming assistant curator to Alfred Favre. Favre retired in 1905, and Henri assumed his role as Curator.
In August 1914, during World War 1, the Germans reoccupied Mulhouse and, amongst 60 others, Henri (at almost 70 years of age) was interned by the Germans on the other side of the Rhine River. He suffered greatly, the captives being moved from place to place. Released in December of the same year, Henri was able to return to France. At the end of the war, he continued his work at the Musée in Mulhouse, but officially retired due to ill health in 1921, though he continued some of his duties until 1926.
In 1909, in gratitude for his contributions to the community, the Société Industrielle made Henri an honorary member. Upon his retirement in 1921, the Musée des Beaux-Arts awarded him the Great Medal of Honour. In 1923 in recognition of his services and patriotism, Henri Juillard Weiss was appointed a Knight of the Legion of Honour (chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur).
Two portraits of Henri Juillard Weiss can be viewed here. The Musée des Beaux-Arts in Mulhouse has a painting of Henri by Léon Hornecker in its collection.
References
Harrison, C.E. (1999). The Bourgeois Citizen in Nineteenth-Century France. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Juillard, H. (1908). Guerre de 1870-1871. II: Notes journalières concernant l’ambulance de Mulhouse à l’armée de l’Est. Ernest Meininger, Mulhouse.
Société Industrielle. (1930). Necrologie: Henri Julliard Weiss. In: Bulletin de la Société Industrielle de Mulhouse, Jan 1930, pp. 1-3.
I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Henry Callot in the writing of this article.
