Lot n° 129
Estimation :
150 - 300
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 1 030EUR
D'après Charles DESPIAU - Lot 129
D'après Charles DESPIAU
Portrait of Raymonde Bessard (Italian-style V-neck bust)
Proof, plaster cast.
Height 46.5 cm
(Scratches).
Cast at the Claude Valsuani foundry from the original plaster belonging to Madame Bessard for the posthumous cast run begun in 1948, made with Madame Despiau's authorization.
Between 1938 and 1944, Despiau worked on the bust of Madame
Bessard's bust.
Bibliography:
- Catalog of the exhibition Charles Despiau Sculptures et dessins, Musée Rodin, Paris, 1974, a bronze example described and reproduced under N°90
- Catalog of the exhibition French sculpture 1775 - 1945,
Bruton Gallery, April 7 - May 26, 1979, one bronze example reproduced on pages 82 & 83
- Catalog of the 37th exhibition of the Society of Portraits
Sculptors, The Gallery, London April 24 - 29, 2000, a bronze example is reproduced on page 10.
Élisabeth Lebon catalog of the 37th exhibition of the Society of Portrait Sculptors, The Gallery, indicates:
Despiau met the Bessards at an evening dedicated to the publication of the Encyclopédie Française, of which Roger Bessard was the editor. Madame Bessard's features: a perfect oval face, a strong, even nose and large, deep, penetrating eyes, matched the sculptor's ideal, and he commissioned her to create his bust. 180 sessions were held between the end of 1938 and June 1939. Madame Bessard left Paris at the outbreak of hostilities, just as the bust was nearing completion. On her return in 1943, Despiau, who found her physically transformed, had her pose again almost daily until May 1944. The bust was actually completed in August 1944, but the work was not cast in bronze until after the sculptor's death in 1946.
The gestation period for this bust was so long, yet it was much more than the search for a very faithful copy of nature.
Thanks to numerous studio casts of intermediate states and two pressings of the clay mask, preserved by the
Musée National d'Art Moderne and the model's family, we can follow the gradual amplification of volumes. Move from a piece of nature to a work of sculpture and see how they are intimately related, to achieve an extremely subtle balance where each point on the surface responds precisely to all the others.
This work, one of the sculptor's finest, expresses both a specific personality and a timeless ideal. It conceals a vibrant inner power and exudes a serenity and luminosity that create an atmosphere in which the viewer feels drawn in. It is Despiau's talent that places him among the most illustrious sculptors of the 20th century.
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