Beschreibung:

Property from an International CollectorFrançois PomponOurs Blanc circa 1927number 9 from 12 Ours Blancs executed in pierre de Lens between 1925-1931pierre de Lensincised POMPON9⅞ x 18¼ x 4½ in. (25.1 x 46.3 x 11.4 cm)Condition reportFor further information on the condition of this lot please contact Celine.Park@sothebys.com ProvenanceGalerie Edgar Brandt Paris, October 1928 Acquired by the 1970s by the present ownerLiteratureRaymond Escholier, "Au Salon D'Automne: La Peinture et la Sculpture", Art et Décoration, December 1922, p. 21 (for a large version of the model) Maurice Dufrène Ensembles Mobiliers: Exposition Internationale 1925, Paris, 1925, pl. 26 Gaston Quénioux, Les Arts Décoratifs Modernes, Paris, 1925, p. 462 Edouard de Courières, François Pompon Vingt-sept reproductions de sculptures, Paris, 1926, p. 49 Robert Rey, François Pompon Paris, 1928, pl. 22 Victor Arwas, Art Deco, New York, 1980, p. 170 Florence Camard, Ruhlmann, Master of Art Deco, London, 1984, pp. 92 and 247 Catherine Chevillot, Liliane Colas & Anne Pingeot, François Pompon Paris, 1994, pp. 33, 54, 57, 60, 73, 81, 188 and 211-212 Alastair Duncan, Encyclopedia of Art Deco, New York, 1988, p. 143 Charlotte Benton, Tim Benton & Ghislaine Wood, Art Deco 1910-1939, London, 2003, p. 149 Emmanuel Bréon & Rosalind Pepall, eds., Ruhlmann: Genius of Art Deco, Paris, 2004, pp. 19, 46, 93 and 300ExhibitedGalerie Edgar Brandt Paris, 1927Catalogue noteThis lot is offered together with a certificate of authenticity from Ms. Liliane Colas and will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné. Ours blanc is Pompon’s most important and revered sculpture. It came to define the long career of an artist and animalier who, at the age of sixty seven, first presented the monumental sculpture to great acclaim at the 1922 Salon d’Automne in Paris. The present example is number 9 from a total of 12 Ours Blancs executed in pierre de Lens between 1925-1931. Thereafter, Ours blanc was sculpted and cast from myriad materials and on various scales over a period of eleven years. Pompon spent much of his early career as a highly sought-after assistant to the finest sculptors in Paris, including Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel However, like many artists active in the early modern era, Pompon reacted against the expressive aesthetics that prevailed at the time to develop a purer, more essential form of sculpture, one epitomized by the present work. Together with such masterpieces as Aristide Maillol’s La Méditerannée and, later, Constantin Brancusi’s L'Oiseau dans l'espace, Ours blanc brought about a new formal language in sculpture which focused on the reduction of form and volume to its essentials, thus breaking from the narrative and descriptive tradition of representation. The natural grace of the polar bear is immediately evoked by the smooth surface of Ours blanc, though the form is further underpinned by a subtle sense of movement. Pompon’s concentration on geometrical volumes enabled him to summarize animal characteristics and personalities effectively whilst the smooth homogenous surfaces of the bronzes, marbles and stones illustrate their subjects’ grace and nobility.