Sculpture in All its Forms

Sculpture is an important part of the history of art, which, like painting, has seen advances and revolutions as well as the arrival of great masters who have been able to reinvent the visual language. Figurative or abstract, unique or in a series, independent or monumental, sculpture invests the space and nourishes the creativity of the spectator, contributing to its development.

Some of the greatest representatives of the discipline will come together at a modern and contemporary art auction organised by Hôtel des Ventes de Monte Carlo, scheduled for 20 January. Between Antoniucci Volti, Aristide Maillol, François Pompon, Arman, and even Edgar Degas (represented with an incredible set of bronze proofs), the auction promises to be a fierce one. 

Master of the female nude, Aristide Maillol revolutionised sculpture with an oeuvre based on full forms but simplified to the point of purity. At the turn of the 20th century, he initiated abstraction, as Cézanne had done in painting. Maillol is one of the rare sculptors to have achieved the perfection of proportions, for both monumental works and those on a smaller scale. A bronze proof with brown patina from a private collection and previously held by the artist's family will be one of the flagship lots in the auction catalogue. Entitled Femme au crabe (‘Crab Woman’), the work bears witness to Maillol's versatility in the positions of his subjects and his mastery of the arrangement of volumes.

The French of Italian origin Antoniucci Volti was faithful to the figurative tradition and devoted his entire career to glorifying women and their bodies. "What enchants me in a woman's body are the rhythms and the volumes," he once said. Les Parisiennes, the work presented at HVMC, is part of a series on the theme, the first of which (at one metre high) was presented at the Salon des peintre témoins de leur temps in 1958, an edition focused on the subject of Parisians. The series was made famous in 1992 by the creation of a stone version, which no longer exists today.

The copy offered here, a blue-black patina print from 1962 measuring 1.46 m in height, was exhibited in five state museums in China and served as a model for the illustration of one of the posters of these exhibitions.

La Danseuse d'Ankara (‘The Ankara Dancer’) is a sculpture by Claire Colinet, a French artist active in Paris in the first part of the 20th century. Known for her depictions of exotic dancers, Colinet responded to the rise of the Art Deco movement and her work is related to the work of Demeter Chiparus. She also received the ‘honourable’ medal at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1913, alongside Chiparus and Louis Comfort Tiffany, which allowed her to be exhibited regularly.

In her oeuvre, she has represented odalisques, dancers, jugglers and even cabaret artists, while giving them a dramatic intensity. Her figures are usually captured in hieratic poses and, like La Danseuse d'Ankara, seem frozen in the middle of a complex choreography or set of steps. Her chryselephantine sculptures in bronze and ivory are among the most beautiful from her body of work. The drape of La Danseuse d'Ankara’s costume testifies to an extreme mastery of the material.

A superb set of 14 bronze proofs by Edgar Degas will punctuate the auction. Among them, 13 are devoted to an equestrian theme, while a single human figure, Danseuse attachant le cordon de son maillot (‘Dancer tying the cord of her suit’), refers to the artist’s other favorite subject, ballet. 

Degas’ bronze proofs struck his contemporaries with the realism of their movement, while their material raised the question of an ‘impressionist’ sculpture. Fascinated by his close universe, Degas devoted his career to simple subjects, such as dance, city life, horse racing and women, while instilling great poetry in each of his works. Thus, in the set of works presented here, we can admire a horse in the middle of a show jumping, galloping, rearing up, at the watering hole or even at a trot, so many poses that allowed Degas to apply himself to freezing movement with extreme precision.

The Franco-Swiss Antoine Poncet will be represented with Réaile (‘Realised’), a gilded bronze patina print from 2000, which testifies to the influence of Brancusi and Jean Arp on his practice, particularly their approach to form and volumes. Poncet creates works that still seem to take shape in front of the viewer, imparting a sense of dynamism and transience. The texture of the surface is of real importance in his work: his sculptures are polished in order to highlight the play of light.

La Tourterelle (‘The Dove’), the work of the great animal sculptor François Pompon, was first made in stone and marks an important stage in the artist's career. It is a one-piece model made from direct carving, as the Grand Duke was later, and was also studied for its use of other materials, in particular stone and marble. Pompon’s representations of the La Perruche (‘Parakeet’) and the l’Ara (‘Macaw’) were treated in the same spirit, in a surprisingly modern and expressive aesthetic.

As La Tourterelle proves, Pompon's sculpture was reduced to its most simplified, purest expression. The volume is not encumbered with details and instead testifies to a desire to develop an original and honest work. Pompon, who enjoyed belated recognition but still during his lifetime, is considered a reference in the history of decorative arts and animal sculpture. 

In addition to these three-dimensional works, the auction will welcome several big names, such as Jean Dubuffet, Roberto Matta, Chaïm Soutine, Jules Pascin and Paul Gauguin.

Find all the information relating to the sale and the health-code conditions in force on the auction house's website. 

View the entire catalogue now on Barnebys