René LETOURNEUR (1898-1990) - Lot 68

René LETOURNEUR (1898-1990) Study for the Victory of the Alençon War Memorial 1952-1954 Original plaster with black patina 75.5 x 47 x 51 cm Designed by architect Jean-Baptiste Hourlier, the Monument aux Morts des deux guerres d'Alençon features a hemicycle with a 10-meter-high concrete sword at its center. René Letourneur created the 2-meter-high Victory that surmounts it, and the four reliefs adorning the hemicycle ("To those of 1914-1918, To those of 1939-1945, To the Resistance, To civilian victims"). While the refined reliefs invite contemplation, the dynamism of the Victory, with its drapery flapping in the wind, tends to carry away the weight of sadness. Bibliography : 2009 EXHIBITION, p. 68-70, no. 50-51, repr (finished work), p. 197, p. 220.