François Pompon (1855-1933) - Lot 236

François Pompon (1855-1933) Duck Model created in 1911; posthumously cast by C. Valsuani in twelve copies Black patina bronze Signed "POMPON" on the terrace Bears the founder's stamp "CIRE PERDUE C. VALSUANI Numbered "3/12 H. 18.5 cm; terrace diam.: 9 cm Scratches on the top of the head Provenance: Acquired in the Paris art trade in 1983; Private collection; By descent Related literature : -Catherine Chevillot, Liliane Colas, Anne Pingeot, François Pompon 1855-1933, cat. Exp. Paris, Musée d'Orsay, October 18, 1994 to January 22, 1995, Paris, Gallimard / Electa, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1994, model listed under no. 8 B, pp. 181-182. "One day, René (Demeurisse) was intrigued to see tissue paper cones on a shelf in the studio, capping confused shapes. Pompon simply replied: "They're little sculptures I'm having fun making. René asked to look at them, and was surprised to see true masterpieces, these studies of none other than the goose, the duck, the moorhen ... in all their beauty and purity of line". The written recollections of René Demeurisse's wife bear witness to that crucial moment, around 1919, when Pompon met the man who helped lift him from his patrician status to become the true leader of twentieth-century animal sculpture. From the 1880s onwards, Pompon enjoyed creating animal subjects, working with extremely simplified forms. He particularly modeled the small farmyard animals he observed in the Normandy countryside, where he had acquired a house near that of his friend René de Saint-Marceaux. Our Duck is one of Pompon's familiar animals. Created in 1911, the Canard was first cast in 1922 by Hébrard in three copies. Claude Valsuani continued the edition from 1923 to 1926 in a few copies, then posthumously in twelve numbered copies.