François Pompon (1855-1933) - Lot 75

Lot 75
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30000 - 50000 EUR
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Result : 38 400EUR
François Pompon (1855-1933) - Lot 75
François Pompon (1855-1933) Duck on the Water, 1911-1922 Bronze print made during the artist's lifetime Sand casting, probably by Florentin Godard No founder's stamp No numbering, no signature 14 x 16 x 9,5 cm The certificate of authenticity of the work, issued by Mrs Liliane Colas, expert Union Française des Experts, specialist of the work of François Pompon, will be given to the buyer. Provenance : France, private collection, by succession. A practitioner for the greatest sculptors of the late 19th century, Pompon carved marbles for Mercié, Falguière, Rodin and Claudel between 1880 and 1914 while beginning to make models for his own account. From 1905 onwards, his work marks a break, in search of a synthesis of form eliminating detail in favor of line and contour. If animal art was previously associated with the decorative arts, Pompon raised it to the rank of modernity, where pure form predominates rather than naturalistic representation. The duck is one of the models that Pompon used in several versions during his lifetime. Standing, taking flight, entering the water or swimming, the subject evolves towards a densification of the volume, the base merging with the animal, the drawing relying on a particularly concentrated attention on the contour. He worked on several versions of Duck on Water between 1911 and 1922. The first one, dated 1911 in the catalog raisonné of the artist's work, was published in three copies by Aurélien-Adrien Hébard between 1918 and 1928. The duck rests on an oval terrace representing water. A second version, dated 1922, is listed in plaster, executed in marble and wood and published in 3 copies by Claude Valsuani on a rectangular base. One of them is kept in Dijon, at the Musée des Beaux-Arts. The third version, of which a plaster cast is kept in the Musée d'Orsay, is close to our model. This version is the result of a study for a vase made in stone in 1921 for the exhibition La Douce France organized in 1922 at the Barbazanges gallery. On the edge of the vase were certainly arranged several ducks. Later, the duck resting on an arched base, similar to the original border, was the subject of a posthumous lost-wax edition of 12 copies, cast by Claude Valsuani, signed and numbered. The Duck on the water, by a complex work of the form, achieves a simplicity of volume. This work is to be compared to that of Brancusi's Phoque (1943), Ossip Zadkine's L'Oiseau d'Or or Émile Gilioli's La Créature sur l'eau, all of which are inspired by the animal to achieve an extreme synthesis. Always remained in the family of its first purchaser, this print was most certainly made for him. As far as we know, it is the only known print made during the artist's lifetime. Related literature - Sculptures en taille directe et tapisserie, first exhibition organized by the magazine La Douce France at the Galerie Barbazanges, April 3-19, 1922, n°126 (vase with ducks in stone of the Jura in progress, not reproduced). - Catherine Chevillot, Liliane Colas, Anne Pingeot, Pompon 1855-1933, Gallimard / Electa, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1994, p 183 (n°12C). - Élisabeth Lebon, Dictionnaire des fondeurs de bronze d'art, France 1890-1950, Perth (Australia), Marjon Edi- tions, 2003.
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