Germaine RICHIER (1904-1959) Fencer with... - Lot 29 - De Baecque et Associés

Lot 29
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Result : 140 000EUR
Germaine RICHIER (1904-1959) Fencer with... - Lot 29 - De Baecque et Associés
Germaine RICHIER (1904-1959) Fencer with mask, 1943 Bronze proof with dark brown patina, signed and justified 3/6 on the terrace and bearing the mark of the founder Susse "Susse Fondeur Paris" on the right side of the terrace The original edition of this work includes 11 proofs justified from 1/6 to 6/6 and HC1, HC2, HC3, EA and 0/6 H. 105 cm - L. 71 cm - D. 32 cm DV Work presented on a rectangular base of wood painted in black Dimensions with the base: H. 120 cm - W. 71 cm - D. 38 cm Provenance : Michelle and Pierre Fagot Collection, gift from Henri Creuzevault to his daughter and son-in-law. Bibliography/Exhibition (our copy): London, Gimpel Fils Gallery, June 26-August 31, 1973, Germaine Richier Retrospective, n°2 Bibliography/Exhibition (for similar prints): Angela Lammert, Jörn Merkett with contributions by Françoise Guiter and Christa Lichtenstern, Germaine Richier, catalog of the exhibition at the Akakademie der Künste, Berlin, September 7-November 2, 1997, Cologne, Wienand Verlag, 1997, p. 102, no. 14 Collective, Catalogue des expositions Richier, Japon, Tokyo et Osaka, 1976, Contemporary Sculpture Center, 1976, reproduced on page 16 (n°2) and described on page 48 with an erroneous title and date (unpaginated copy) The Fabre Museum in Montpellier and the Kunst Musuem in Bern (Switzerland) have a copy of this sculpture Les Escrimeuses, which exists in two versions, with and without mask, seems to belong at first to the classical period of Germaine Richier, former and only private student of Antoine Bourdelle between 1926 and the death of the master in 1929. In her first years of independence, the sculptor moved to Paris, her works, mostly busts, very influenced by the spirit of Bourdelle, were noticed and allowed her to obtain the Blumenthal prize in 1936. Married in December 1929 to the Swiss sculptor Otto Bänninger, a practitioner of Bourdelle's, it was in the tranquility of Switzerland that Germaine Richier, who lived in Zurich between 1939 and 1946, conceived the premises of her dazzling work. Often presented in duet with L'Escrimeuse, the two sculptures face to face simulating a combat, Escrimeuse avec masque belongs to this fertile period of research and questioning of acquired knowledge, alongside pieces such as Le Crapaud (1940) or La Sauterelle (1944). The choice of the representation of this sport is easily explained in its relationship to movement and stability. The parallel between the sculpture and fencing is obvious if we consider it from the point of view of balance. These two sculptures appear as one of the most accomplished studies of movement that the sculptor has given us, the verist transposition of bodies, oscillating marvelously between saltatory movement and immobility. If it is true that Germaine Richier frequented the halls of arms, the pose of her model proves to be precise and refers to the eighth and final stage of the warning, but can also be read as a posture of riposte, the right hand sketching a parade in sixte. This ambiguous attitude, open and calm, while at the same time disturbing, ready to pounce, masterfully prefigures the enigmatic and aggressive postures of the hybrid creatures that she will imagine from 1946 onwards, following the example of L'Araignée I or La Mante, grande, the animality being underlined here by the presence of the mask with its undeniable entomic dimension.
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