MALET, Joseph (1873 - 1946). Sculptor. - Lot 320

MALET, Joseph (1873 - 1946). Sculptor. Portrait of entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre. Bronze proof, signed lower right, H. 15 cm - L. 19 cm (base) AP Jean Henri Fabre lived in Corsica from 1849 to 1952 and taught at the Collège Fesch, now the museum of the same name, where a commemorative plaque has been affixed. This composition can be compared with the full-length statue created by the same sculptor in 1924, which can be seen in the garden of the house where he was born in Saint-Léons du Lavezou. Another sculpture of the same figure was removed by the Germans and melted down. However, this composition is different. Was it an independent work from the other two, or was it a preliminary test of the facial features before the large-scale realizations of the sculpture? Either way, the interpretation remains remarkable.