| Artist: | Louis Aimé Lejeune |
| Title: | Je N’Oublierai Pas |
| Date: | 1930 |
| District: | Fifth Supervisorial District |
| Location: | Los Angeles County Arboretum |
| Department: | Los Angeles County Arboretum |
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This sculpture by Louis Aimé Lejeune was originally commissioned in 1930 by Anita Baldwin, a well-known patron of the arts and daughter of southern California land developer E.J. Baldwin. It is titled Je N'Oublierai Pas, which translates as "I will not forget," a phrase which appears on the Baldwin family crest.
The 7' h x 4 1/2' w x 2 1/2' d white stone sculpture depicts a female figure standing beside a low column. Her arms cradle an urn. The column is decorated with a bas-relief image of a squirrel holding three acorns. Below the squirrel are three pairs of oak leaves, as well as the carved French phrase which gives the sculpture its name. The oak motif reflects the importance of these trees to the Baldwin family. Because of her father's love for oaks, Anita Baldwin named her estate Anoakia.
The sculpture and the funds to relocate it to the Los Angeles County Arboretum were donated in 1991 by Lowry McCaslin in memory of his friend, Richard A. Grant, Sr.
About the Artist: Louis Aimé Lejeune, the son of a woodworker and cabinetmaker, was born in Normandy in 1884. As an adolescent, Lejeune studied design at the Ěcole Bernard Palissy in Paris and later received a scholarship to attend the Ěcole des Beaux-Arts. Lejeune's work was popular in the early twentieth century and many European and American museums collected his pieces. He came to California in 1926 to complete a portrait bust of Horace Huntington, and it was then that Anita Baldwin commissioned him for both Je N'Oublierai Pas and a bronze fountain at Anoakia's entrance.