Marcel LAPIERRE viola bow, silver-mounted ivory frog, 1958, 69.5 grams, FRANCE

Bowmaker Marcel Lapierre cast his net widely among the many Mirecourt workshops active in the twentieth century. He trained with Jèrôme Thibouville-Lamy from 1921 to 1923 and began working for François Lotte in 1931. After five years, he moved to the workshop of Charles Louis Bazin and later worked for Morizot frères. In 1946 Èmile Auguste Ouchard hired him to rough out some sticks, and following Ouchard's departure for New York in that same year, Lapierre moved to Geneva to begin working for Vidoudez. After only one year he returned to Mirecourt and set up his own shop, where he worked through the 1970s.

Lapierre's bows from the first decade after his return from Geneva are especially well regarded. They feature fine squarish heads, Ouchard-style frogs, and Hill underslides. After 1970 his work becomes rather heavy. Lapierre, like Ouchard, often branded his bows on both sides of the stick.