Jean Cocteau Sculptures

Woman Laying, circa 1930-1940, Giorgio Rossi (1894-1981), Tuscan sculptor Period: Circa 1930-1940 Artist: Giorgio Rossi (1894-1981) Material: Terracotta Dimensions: Height 39 cm Scho...

Hybrid II by Polly Little (2022). Plaster and acrylic paint.

Two Figures (Mother and son) 9" x 17" terracotta sculpture, signed lower left mounted to wood panel, 15 1/2" x 23 1/2" George Aarons (born Gregory Podubisky, in St. Petersburg, Russ...

An official artist of the Nazi regime, trained in Montparnasse in the 1930s, Arno Breker continued to sculpt after the fall of the Third Reich, producing large-scale public commissions in Germany and portraits of prominent figures. The two small bronzes presented here, dated around 1978, are part of a long tradition of prancing horses dating back to antiquity. The asymmetrical treatment of the two front legs and the inclination of the head make these two copies of the same artwork a highly decorative pair. 1. Arno Breker, a prolific sculptor, from the Bohemia of Montparnasse to the commissions from the Third Reich ... and from the Federal Republic of Germany The son of a stone carver, Arno Breker studied fine art and anatomy in his native Elberfeld. At the age of 20, he entered the Düsseldorf Academy of Art. He moved to Paris in 1926, where he continued his training in the studio of Maillol, who dubbed him "the German Michelangelo of the twentieth century". He shared a studio with Alexandre Calder and frequented Jean Cocteau, Foujita, Brancusi, Pablo Picasso and other artists of the bohemian Paris of the time. It was also in Paris in 1933 that he met Demetra Messala, the daughter of a Greek diplomat who posed for Maillol and Picasso, whom he married in 1937. Having won the Prussian Prix de Rome in 1932, he left Paris to stay at the Villa Massimo, the German Academy in Rome. Returning to Germany in 1934, his style evolved towards a more marked imitation of ancient sculpture. He created two monumental statues for Berlin's Olympic Stadium, before being appointed professor at the Berlin College of Fine Arts in 1937. He came to the attention of the Reich Propaganda Ministry, which awarded him several commissions and provided him with three large studios in which Breker produced many monumental sculptures to the glory of the regime. On June 23, 1940, Breker accompanied Adolf Hitler during a visit to Paris. During the Occupation, his political connections enabled him to intervene on behalf of many artists pursued by the Nazis: for example, he protected Pablo Picasso (then a Communist) from Kommandantur officers. Most of Arno Breker's work was destroyed in Berlin at the end of the war in 1945 by bombing and intentional destruction perpetrated by soldiers of the victorious powers. After the fall of the Nazi regime, however, Arno Breker was never prosecuted. He opened a new studio in Düsseldorf, where he sculpted until his death in 1991. He then carried out several public commissions in Germany (Bayreuth, Wuppertal), as well as portraits of numerous personalities, including King Mohammed V of Morocco, Léopold Sedar Senghor (commissioned by the Académie Française in 1978) and the two chancellors of the Federal Republic of Germany, Konrad Adenauer and Ludwig Erhard. The Arno Breker Museum in Nörvenich is now exhibiting some of his artworks. 2. Related artworks: from the Wild Horses of the Quirinal to the Horses of Marly The prancing horse is a major iconographic theme, found in a series of sculptures from Antiquity, the Renaissance and the Classical Age. Various photos from Arno Breker's studio in Berlin confirm the predominant place of equine representations in his work (alongside male nude statues), and confirm that this reduced version created in 1978 is part of the artist's preferred repertoire. Prancing horses are generally associated with a male figure in a group that, through a reference drawn from Antiquity, symbolizes man's domination over nature. In this respect, it is very interesting to compare our small bronzes with the horse forming part of a large sculpture by Arno Breker (made in 1936 and probably destroyed in 1945) depicting Alexander taming Bucephalus. This statue is itself directly inspired by one of the best-known works of 18th-century French sculpture...

Dancing male figure, terracotta sculpture, 1930s-40s, Giorgio Rossi (1894-1981). Terracotta modeled by hand by the artist. Unique piece. Dimensions: Height 45 cm. The choice of ter...

Wonderful Italian sculpture representing a seated maiden. The artwork rests on a square marble base Signed on the base “Gaetano Martinez Roma” According a written opinion by Prof. Al...

After Marcel Duchamp Bicycle Wheel replica from the Philadelphia Museum (estate authorized), 2002 Wheel and painted wood. In original box 11 × 6 1/2 × 3 4/5 inches In original box pr...

Italian life-size plaster sculpture , figure of the Callipygian Venus, after the antique Roman marble statue. Aphrodite Kallipygos, or Callipygian Venus literally means “Venus of ...

"Barge Toiler" by Max Kalish is a Mid 20th Century modern Depression-Era sculpture from his Labor series. The WPA era work is made of plaster. Max Kalish (1891 – 1945) Barge Toiler 12 x 8”x 4 inches Patinated plaster Signed and monogramed BIO Born in Poland March 1, 1891, figurative sculptor Max Kalish came to the United States in 1894, his family settling in Ohio. A talented youth, Kalish enrolled at the Cleveland Institute of Art as a fifteen-year-old, receiving a first-place award for modeling the figure during studies with Herman Matzen. Kalish went to New York City following graduation, studying with Isidore Konti and Herbert Adams...

Finding inspiration from the Ruba Rombic line of Art Moderne glassware retailed by Kaufmann's Department Store in the late 1920s, artist Charles Lutz creates a striking sculptural vase featuring a complex geometry of angles and trapezoidal planes. Titled "Large Vase" (after Ruba Rombic), each piece has a matte unglazed exterior...

Very rare Art Deco three dimensional terracotta sculpture of Adam and Eve by the Austrian artist, Virgil Rainer. Hand painted by the artist. Signed bott...

William Laparra (Bordeaux 1873 - Hecho 1920) Untitled Tinted plaster high-relief 67,7 x 120,1 x 14,8 cm = 26.7 × 47.3 × 5.8 in Signed lower left An elegant high-relief depicting a ...