André Des Rochers´ career as a sculptor began with the manufacturing of architectural elements. Among other things, he was responsible for the ballast urns on Montparnasse Bridge (1925), and the fountains at Porte de Versailles (1926-28). He was also a founding member of Groupe des Six along with André Lhote, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Jacques Villon and Roger Chastel. 

He was declared “honorary member” of this group in 1927. Des Rochers was born at Toulouse in 1884, the son of a worker. He initially studied entertainment law, but abandoned it for sculpture. In 1907 André Des Rochers left for Paris where he lived as a boarder at Montparnasse with his brother Georges until he found work in a foundry. 

There he learned to model clay and in 1909 became an assistant to Frederick MacMonnies. In 1910 he exhibited for the first time at the Salon des Artistes Français; a plaster called “Tête de femme” was reproduced the same year in a review of contemporary sculpture. André Des Rochers´ first major work was the “Portrait of Queen Marie d’Angleterre” (1914) a bust of the widow of King Edward VII. He also made portraiture in bronze. 

But it was his contribution to the ceiling decorations at the Grand Palais that brought him notice. These were allegorical figures representing the elements: Water, Fire, Air and Earth. He was also responsible for the decoration of the Paris Metro station, “Pont Neuf”. For a time André Des Rochers worked with Alfred Janniot at his foundry in Montparnasse. In 1918 Des Rochers collaborated on a frieze with Paul Ranson and Léon Tutundjian 

They joined the “Théâtre national de l’Opéra” (now L’Opéra Garnier) in Paris. In 1919 he exhibited at the Salon d’Automne and became “sociétaire” (member) of the Salon in 1924. During the interwar years he was commissioned to create many pieces for France’s growing memorials to its war dead. André Des Rochers produced a group of “Victims” for a monument in Bordeaux, two sculptures of battle scenes for Compiègne, one of which was called “La Baïonnette”, and another for Romorantin called “La Mitrailleuse”.