to the influence of Auguste Carli, and in May 1914 he sat the entrance examination for the Paris Ẻcole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.
After the war he resumed his studies and won the "Prix de Rome" in 1921 with the bas-relief in plaster entitled "Les Fiançailles"[1] and in the same year he made his debut at the Salon des Artistes Français and continued to exhibit there until 1937.
In 1921 his composition "Le Printemps", a plaster bas-relief, saw him receive an "honourable mention" and in 1924 he won a silver medal with "L'Eveil".
This marble bas-relief, showing St Michael slaying the dragon, was completed in 1906 when Vézien was just 16 years of age.
The façade of this church was the work of the architect Léon Azéma who had won the Prix de Rome for architecture in 1921.
Also working with Delamarre, Vézien completed the stations of the Cross in the church ("Chemin de croix").
This stone statue dates to around 1947 and is located in the Église Saint-Ferréol les Augustins in Marseille's Quai des Belges.
[6] The Douaumont ossuary and cemetery is arguably one of the most important of France's many memorials to the dead of the Great War and it is a measure of Vézien's standing that he was chosen to execute the sculptures for the chapel.
Vézien created the bas-relief "La Peinture" as part of the decoration of the Palais de Chaillot.
In 1925 the French governor of Tunisia, Lucien Saint wished to celebrate Lavigerie's centenary and commissioned Vézien to work on a suitable sculpture.
Vézien's statue of Lavigerie was erected in Tunis and stood in the place Bab El Bhar.
The statue attracted much hostility from the Moslem majority in Tunis, particularly the students at Zitouna university and this led to violent demonstrations.
In 1936 and on the occasion of the centenary of the death of Maria Letizia Ramolino, Napoléon 1st's mother, Vézien executed this bust which was erected in a small garden opposite the Napoleon residence in Ajaccio.
This Marseille monument, dating to 1938, and carved from Lens stone, commemorates the assassination in Marseille of the Yugoslavian king and Bathou in 1934 and was given the name "Paix et Travail" by the designing architect Gaston Castel who used the services of the sculptors Antonio Sartorio, Elie-Jean Vézien and Louis Botinelly.
The monument stands on the corner of the Rue de Rome and the Avenue Paul Peytral in Marseille's 6th arrondissement.
"Douce rêverie", "Les Fiançailles" and a piece for the competition describing the required sculpture as one depicting war.
In 1932 the catholic newspaper "L’Éveil provençal" announced that a large equestrian statue of Joan of Arc would be erected on the forecourt of the Notre Dame de la Garde church.
It was to be 10 years later that Marseille got her St Joan statue; in the event a modest work by Louis Botinelly.
A medal honoring St. Thérèse (known as "The Little Flower") which is inscribed on the reverse with a quotation from her autobiography: "Je veux passer mon ciel a faire du bien sur la terre."
[21] During the Second World War, Vézien won the French Mint's competition for designs of the new 10 and 20 franc coins.