Joseph Arthur Vigneron

Who was Joseph Arthur Vigneron?

Joseph Arthur Vigneron was an important French Archetier / Bowmaker.

He served his apprenticeship with his stepfather Charles Claude Husson in Mirecourt, where he studied side by side with Joseph Alfred Lamy père, who was less than a year older than he was. Vigneron worked with Husson until the latter's death in 1872, then he moved to the shop of Jean Joseph Martin. He worked for Gand & Bernardel Frères from 1880. By 1888 he opened his own workshop at 54 Rue de Cléry, Paris.

His bows were quite solid and followed his own individual style. He selected the finest wood and worked it with loving care. He worked quickly, with powerful execution. "He made a bow a day, it is said. Bows made by a man upon whom nature had bestowed a mind deeply sensitive of the beautiful, and highly cultivated by experience.'

Vigneron had a fairly even camber along the stick. The curve was not like Voirin's, behind the head, but more in the middle of the bow, closer to the grip. Vigneron also designed bows with a sort of rounded triangular cross section which added stability to the bow.