Raymond Sudre (1870-1962) - Lot 267

Raymond Sudre (1870-1962) Gélida Model created in 1902 High relief in white marble Signed 'Raymond Sudre' on right side H. 40 cm LJ Related works : -Raymond Sudre for the Manufacture de Sèvres, Gélida , cookie glaze, dim. 36.5 x 17x 14.1 cm , Reims, Musée des Beaux-Arts, n°inv. 907.19.430 -Raymond Sudre, Gélida, Haut relief en marbre, 1900/1920, H.40 cm, Art Institute of Chicago collection until 2014 under n°inv. 1984.39, then Sotheby's New York sale October 29, 2014, lot 205. The son of a Perpignan marble-maker, Raymond Sudre trained with Alexandre Falguière and Antonin Mercié at the École des Beaux-arts in Paris, before winning the second Grand Prix de Rome in 1900. Symbolist in inspiration, our sculpture combines the dexterity of the chisel with the unsettling sensuality of a nude woman leaning against a wall of ice. It was under the title "Gelida" that a Sèvres cookie based on the same model was presented by the artist at the 1904 World's Fair in Saint-Louis, Missouri, then in 1907 in Strasbourg, as part of a major exhibition of French art curated by Auguste Rodin. Deeply attached to his native region, Sudre deliberately chose a Catalan term that literally translates as "icy cold", accentuating the seductive yet mysterious character of this flesh frozen in marble.