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Lot Essay
Christian Mass (b. 1951)
Christian Maas is a contemporary French sculptor working predominantly in cast bronze and aluminium. A languages and history of art graduate, Maas began working exclusively as a sculptor and founder in the late 1980s. He practices lost wax casting, a technique he learnt through experience gained in various foundries prior to beginning an apprenticeship in 1988 and subsequently setting up his own atelier. His works are wide ranging, a point illustrated by the diversity of works offered in this sale: from functional furniture (see lot 129) to boldly modelled naturalistic life-size animalier sculptures (such as the present lot, or the crab lot 19) and even a full scale model of a racing car (lot 121) as well as the model of a double bass commissioned by Talisman (lot 128), with each work bearing his foundry stamp. His early works include a series of tributes to Brancusi, Zadkine, Moore and Archipenko which he executed before developing the distinctive oeuvre of much of his later work. During recent years Maas has exhibited throughout Europe, the Middle East and the USA as well as in his native France. Some of his works have been acquired by museums in France and the French authorities have commissioned various large-scale works for public spaces and at the end of the 20th century he was commissioned to produce work for the the Carrousel du Louvre, Paris. Maas’s work has been widely acclaimed, particularly in in own country where he has been and awarded 'Médaille d'or de l'Académie des Arts' and the 'Chevalier de l'Ordre International des Arts’.
Christian Maas is a contemporary French sculptor working predominantly in cast bronze and aluminium. A languages and history of art graduate, Maas began working exclusively as a sculptor and founder in the late 1980s. He practices lost wax casting, a technique he learnt through experience gained in various foundries prior to beginning an apprenticeship in 1988 and subsequently setting up his own atelier. His works are wide ranging, a point illustrated by the diversity of works offered in this sale: from functional furniture (see lot 129) to boldly modelled naturalistic life-size animalier sculptures (such as the present lot, or the crab lot 19) and even a full scale model of a racing car (lot 121) as well as the model of a double bass commissioned by Talisman (lot 128), with each work bearing his foundry stamp. His early works include a series of tributes to Brancusi, Zadkine, Moore and Archipenko which he executed before developing the distinctive oeuvre of much of his later work. During recent years Maas has exhibited throughout Europe, the Middle East and the USA as well as in his native France. Some of his works have been acquired by museums in France and the French authorities have commissioned various large-scale works for public spaces and at the end of the 20th century he was commissioned to produce work for the the Carrousel du Louvre, Paris. Maas’s work has been widely acclaimed, particularly in in own country where he has been and awarded 'Médaille d'or de l'Académie des Arts' and the 'Chevalier de l'Ordre International des Arts’.