Jussieu Fountain, Fountain on Place Jussieu, Paris, France
The Fontaine Jussieu is a sculpture fountain on Place Jussieu in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, set at the main entrance of the university campus. It consists of a large round basin of dark gray Celtic granite with a perforated disc at the center, from which water rises upward.
The sculpture was created in 1993 by artist Guy Lartigue and installed on Place Jussieu in 1994. Lartigue, born in 1927 and a student of Ossip Zadkine, devoted much of his career to public fountain works across France.
The Fontaine Jussieu, also known as La Bouche de la Vérité, takes its name from a famous ancient relief in Rome said to bite the hands of liars. The round granite form invites visitors to stop and think, and it fits naturally into the rhythm of student life on the square.
The fountain is freely accessible and easy to spot from the university campus entrance. The water flow is often shut off in winter to avoid frost damage, so a visit in the warmer months gives the full effect of the work.
Guy Lartigue was the cousin of the renowned photographer Jacques-Henri Lartigue, which placed him in an artistic family with a very different medium. His first public fountain commission dates back to 1960, when he created a water sculpture for the Spanish king's residence in Marseille.
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