Pierre Bouret (1897-1972)

Lot 4
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Estimation :
3000 - 4000 EUR
Pierre Bouret (1897-1972)
The thought, 1958 Original plaster, enlarged Signed "BOURET" on the back 122 x 69 x 83 cm Provenance: Crait+Müller sale, "Pierre Bouret (1897-1972), sculpteur," Paris, Hôtel Drouot, March 30, 2018, lot no. 18 A great representative of figurative sculpture in the interwar period, the sculptor Pierre Bouret offers us here a fine example of his creative process operating in the multiplication of enlargements and reductions from an original model explored to the exhaustion of its resources. This artist, who belonged to the group of sculptors known as the "Independents", was able to combine solid academic technical knowledge, learned during training in municipal art workshops and then at the Cours Supérieur d'Art Décoratif de la Ville de Paris, with a vision of sculpture that was both free and new, developed in the presence of the greatest representatives of modern sculpture, Aristide Maillol, Robert Wlérick, François Pompon and Charles Despiau, for whom he worked as a practitioner. This desire for serial work and advanced research on the sensitive expression of the human body are revealed in the genesis of our work entitled La Pensée. This vibrant and powerful female nude, featuring a seated woman wrapping her arms around her right knee and turning her head to the left, is an enlargement of the allegory of The Source, a subject he has been working on since 1929. This first model, 19 cm high, was produced in bronze (a proof kept at the Musée Despiau-Wlérick in Mont-de-Marsan, inv. MM204-7-1). A second version was completed in 1953. This larger version (H. 57 cm) gave him the opportunity to refine certain anatomical details; the face was completely modified, and the figure exuded more strength and inner animation. This second version was produced in terracotta (two proofs, one of which was acquired by the State in 1961, FNAC 9355) and then in bronze by Claude Valsuani from 1962 (only one cast out of five contracted). Our plaster dated 1858 comes from this second version enlarged to twice the size and envisaged as a new original work, with a changed title: La Pensée. It is the only known copy executed in these dimensions. A contemporary sculptor in the tradition of stone carvers, René Coutelle (1927-2012) fashioned bodies, couples and even birds in the joyful disorder of his workshop in Belleville, a district of Paris of which he was to become a leading figure. Many students came to learn the (traditional) technique of direct carving advocated by the artist. While some of his creations are kept in public institutions such as the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris or the Fond National d'Art, the five works offered in this sale come directly from the sculptor's studio. Embracing bodies, luminous birds and slender torsos, the artist's main themes are represented here.
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