Highly refined sculptor, Maurice Charpentier-Mio had an artistic and a military career. He began his career as a sculptor by creating war memorials commemorating the 1870 war, such as the one in Honfleur dedicated to the soldiers and sailors who died for their country, which was inaugurated in 1913. He also made small decorative objects, jewellery and terracottas, but it’s especially as a medallist that he will be known. He also wrote news articles under the name Aymé Sée. From 1911 to 1921, he exhibited exclusively at the S.N.B.A., where he offered medals devoted to dance. Seduced by Isadora Duncan, whom he saw at the Théâtre du Chatelet in 1910, he devoted his entire career to representing dance movements and depicting the great dancers of the time: I. Duncan (1910), Nijinsky (L ‘Après-midi d'un faune, 1912), Pavlova (La Mort du Cygne, 1919), S. Lifar (Giselle, 1930) etc... The Russian ballets were a real fascination for him, and he represented almost all of them.

Uninterested in the art trade, he didn’t sell any of his models to publishers, except for the Manufacture de Sèvres, and published them himself on commission, in a very small number of copies, for a group of amateurs who, like him, were passionate about dance, such as Robert de Rothschild, the Conte de Fels, Boni de Castellane...

Student at the École de guerre, he also followed a career as an officer, and took part in both wars. During the first war, he was a captain in the 72nd artillery regiment, then assigned to the staff of the 5th army corps. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre with three commendations and made an Officer of the Légion d'Honneur. Taken prisoner during the Second World War, he set up a drawing school in his camp, which made life easier for the prisoners.

Confused by the new arts trends, Charpentier-Moi retired to Hyères, where he died almost forgotten in 1976. A final exhibition of his work was held in 1953 at the Gilberte Cournand gallery.  The author of more than 1,200 models (mainly reliefs), he bequeathed his entire studio, as well as his archives, to the Musée-Bibliothèque de l'Opéra Garnier. He is considered as the best sculptor about dance, along with Degas.