From 1876 he worked as a hospital interne in Paris, and served as an assistant to Étienne Stéphane Tarnier at the Maternité.

In 1887 he obtained his agrégation for obstetrics at the faculty of medicine, and successively worked at the hospitals Tenon, Saint-Louis and Saint-Antoine.

In 1907 he succeeded Pierre-Constant Budin as professor of obstetrics to the medical faculty.

[1] An obstetrical implement known as a pince de Bar (an umbilical cord clamp) is named after him.

[2][3] His book Les méthodes antiseptiques en obstétrique was later translated into English and published with the title The principles of antiseptic methods applied to obstetric practice (1887).