LOUIS JOSEPH MORIZOT PERE AND THE DYNASTIES

A BOW FOR EVERYBODY !

This motto is surely the most representative of Morizots' character, the last great dinasties in Mirecourt, who improved the production line of the artisanal firm, succeeding in supply instrument players of any level.

Violin bow Louis Joseph Morizot "Père"

The case of the founder of Morizot, represents a classic example of how the workshops of Mirecourt developed. In fact , he represents the junction between two big artisan families. Do you remember Nicolas Maline  ? ; well, he was his uncle.

His father Constant, tinsmith, married his wife Chaterine Maline as a second marriage, she was the only daughter out of ten Guillaume Maline's sons , all luthiers or bow makers, including, of course, the most famous Nicolas, Louis Joseph's uncle.

Faithful to the family style, of course apart choosing to be a bowmaker , thus redeeming the honor of his mother who escaped the recruit of Malines, he and his wife Louise Buobon, give birth to six children, of course all bowmakers but one a luthier !

Born at Darney on March 22, 1874, he begins his first apprenticeship by Cuniot-Hury, and then, like most young bowmakers, makes a stop at Charles Nicolas Bazin's workshop.

He remains by him until 1914, during this period he begins a small collaboration with Eugène Sartory. The most famous colleague places by him at first some roughing, folowed by some frogs and some finished bows.

In 1919 he started his own business and defines his style, his heads are light and simple and the sticks are not so far from those of the more famous colleague Sartory, for which he still works, even if not for a long time .

A small anecdote will better explain why I called Eugène Sartory a Velociraptor.

Although he lived and worked in Paris, Sartory was usually back to Mirecourt in the summertime to visit her mother. Passing by the lab of his colleague Louis Joseph Morizot, he saw that the door was marked as "Louis Morizot ex-worker of Eugene Sartory."

You may not believe it, but Sartory sued him for having written the truth!

Since 1925, thanks to his sons who since 1920 had begun to work with him, the turnover of the laboratory increases considerably, so that he will become and remain one of the two with the largest number of customers along with that one of of Charles Nicolas Bazin.

In 1927 he wins the first prize at the Crafts Expo and in 1933 he opens a new activity with his sons under the name "Louis Morizot & fils".

At 63 years, now old , due to sight problems he is forced to limit a lot his buiding work. He moved by his son luthier and devotes his time to do finishing and small restorations for his sons.

He dies in Mirecourt on August 15, 1957, leaing his trace in history as the one who produced the largest number of bows in ' 900, a bow for everybody !

The bows

Of course, like all laboratory / factory, Morizot's quality is not always homogeneous, but it distinguishes positively, at least by my opinion, from that of his only other similar regarding distribution and numbers; Charles Nicolas Bazin.

I do not know how to explain it , in Bazin's bows , even the beautiful and clear, exude a sheer disregard for this man for what he built, considering them a source of enrichment and an access to social elevation.

Morizot, on the contrary, liked making bows, and it can be perceived in his best work. The heads are light and full of vitality, even if the frogs were not completely clear, the technical work is really done in a proper way.

So long

Paolo