Benin King Oba bronze standing figure, African, Nigeria, 20th Century
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Benin King Oba bronze standing figure, African, Nigeria, 20th Century
Benin King Oba bronze standing figure, Nigeria, 20th Century
Lost wax cast bronze with a verdigris patina and a desert sand surface highlighting a rich brown patina.
H: 15″ x D: 4 1/2″ x W: 4 1/2″
The art of Benin is the product of an urban royal court, and is meant to symbolize and to extol the power, mystique, grandeur, continuity, and endurance of the ruling dynasty and its governing institutions. From the 14th century until its fall in 1897, Benin was ruled by the Oba, a divine ruler at the head of the political system of titled chiefs. Under royal support, a number of craftsman’s guilds produced bronze, brass, and wood sculptures and embroidered cloth, all of which have become prized by museums and collectors.
Andree Flamant-Ducany-Gide / Valsuani Foundry French Cubist bronze “African” mask sculpture 20th Century
ANDREE FLAMANT-DUCANY-GIDE (1882-1970) France
VALSUANI FONDEUR (1899-1981) Paris, France
Cubist mask sculpture 20th Century
Cast bronze with rich brown-black patina (possibly cast at a later date by the Valsuani Foundry)
Marks: G. Flamant, 2/8 C. Valsuani Cire Perdue (signed on chin)
H: 11” x W: 7” x D: 5 ½”;
On stand: H: 18 ½”
Price: $35,000
ANDREE FLAMANT-DUCANY-GIDE
Flamant-Gide was born in Nimes, France on January 2nd, 1892 and died on March 28th 1970. She was both a painter and sculptor and exhibited regularly at the Salon des Artists Francais beginning in 1923. She sculpted in an angular Cubist style influenced by African Art and was a fellow artist of Joseph Csaky, Gustave Miklos, Jacques Lipchitz and Henri Laurens who were considered the leading Art Deco sculptors in Paris during the 1920’s.
CUBISM
Cubism drew its influence from: Cezanne’s structural analysis in his oil landscapes, e.g. ‘La Montagne Sainte Victorie’ c.1887; Gauguin’s figurative landscapes, e.g. ‘Haymaking’ 1889; and African tribal Art such as Gabon masks. European artists were greatly influenced by African and Oceanic Art during the late 1890s and early 1900s. African sculpture, with its bold shapes and lines, had a great impact on the development of Cubism. Maurice de Vlaminck became a keen admirer and collector of African masks after seeing them in a Paris anthropological museum. He purchased similar masks and his excitement for these works displaying bold primitive expressions and simplistic design filtered through to Matisse, Derain, Gris and Picasso, who all became collectors as well. By the 1920s African art exhibitions were common in Paris and other cities throughout Europe.
Cubist sculpture brought the simplified shapes of Cubist painting together with the three-dimensional modeling medium of sculpture. The first Cubist sculpture, which could be properly deemed as such was made by Picasso in 1909 and was titled ‘Head of a Woman’. However Picasso did experiment with sculptural forms as early as 1907 when he found himself fascinated and deeply influenced by African masks. Cubist sculpture was mostly reminiscent of Analytical Cubism in its stripping away of illusionist details to reveal the fundamental form contained in each individual subject, be it human or still-life.
VALSUANI FOUNDRY
The Valsuani foundry was started by the brothers Claude and Attilio Valsuani who learned the foundry trade while employed at the Hebrard foundry. While working for Hebrard, Claude Valsuani showed great promise as a finisher and eventually worked his way up to become the Technical Director of the Hebrard foundry. In 1899 Claude Valsuani started his own foundry in Chatillon, casting mostly small works for various artists primarily using the lost wax technique of casting (cire perdue). In 1905 he moved his foundry to 74 Rue des Plantes in Paris. Among the famous sculptors who had the Valsuani foundry cast their works were: Renoir, Picasso, Despiau, Paul Troubetzkoy, Matisse, and Gaugin. Claude Valsuani died in 1923 in his native Italy but his son, Marcele then took over the foundry and continued the tradition of producing extremely fine bronzes until the 1970’s.
African Bronze “Tree of Life” Sculpture 20th Century
African Bronze “Tree of Life” Sculpture 20th Century
Sand cast bronze with a brown black patina with golden highlights in an open work design depicting 18 figures perched on a tree form with various intricate pattern details.
***As a Primitive / Tribal sculpture this piece visually relates to some of the sculpture and painting of the renowned French artist Jean Dubuffet.
Gustav Gurschner, Secessionist / Byzantine Revival bronze vase c. 1905
GUSTAV GURSCHNER (1873-1970) Austria
Vase c. 1905
Cast bronze ovoid shaped vase with decorative Celtic motif, lightly gilded, the body of the vase simulating leather with a rich brown patina
Signed: GURSCHNER, M180 (stamped in the bronze)
Related works illustrated: The Studio, Special Summer Number 1906: The Art Revival in Austria, ill. no. D6; Studio Yearbook (London, 1909), pp. 139-140; Vienna Turn of the Century: Art and Design, Fischer Fine Art, exhib. cat. (London 1979), p. 23, illus. 1; Bronzes, sculptors & Founders, H. Berman, (Atglen 1994 III) p. 781, cat. nos. 2893, 2894; Decorative Art 1880-1980, Dan Klein & Margaret Bishop (Oxford, England: Phaidon and Christie’s Limited, 1986) p. 84, illus. 1
H: 7 1/4″ x D: 7″ x D: 4″
Price: $14,500
Gustav Gurschner was born in Tirol, Austria. He attended the Fachschule für Holzindustrie in Bozen from 1885-1888. After three years, his instructors encouraged him to attend the Austrian Museum for Applied Arts’ Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna. After finishing his formal training, Gurschner pursued a career as a sculptor of monumental works. It was while he was in Paris in 1897, that he first turned his energies from the application of small-scale, sculptural works to the aesthetic design of household objects. Shortly thereafter, he returned to Vienna to join the Secessionists whose ideals he shared. By the turn-of-the-century, Gurschner was not only one of the better known artists working in Vienna but enjoyed a reputation that extended into other European countries as well.
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