Germaine Richier (1904-1959)

THE PROPERTY OF CHRIS AND LUCILA ENGELS, CURAÇAO

细节

Germaine Richier (1904-1959)

La Mante Grande

bronze height excluding base: 51 1/8in. (130cm.)
height including base: 73 1/4in. (186cm.)

Executed in 1946 and cast in 1951, this is the first casting from a total authorised edition of 11

来源

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner in 1952

出版

Luc Fournier, 70 Portretten en Ontmoetingen, Amsterdam 1977, p. 72 (illustrated)
Ex. Cat., Hommage à Germaine Richier, Galerie H.Odermatt - Ph. Cazeau, Paris 1992 (another cast illustrated p. 23)
Ex. Cat., Germaine Richier 1904-1959, Galerie Creuzeveult, Paris 1966 (another cast illustrated)

展览

London, Anglo French Centre, Sculpture of Germaine Richier, Roger Lacourière, September 1947, no. 14 (original plaster cast)
Bern, Kunsthalle, Sculpteurs Contemporains de L'Ecole de Paris, February-March 1948, no. 119 (original plaster cast illustrated in the catalogue)
Basel, Galerie d'Art Moderne, Arp, Germaine Richier, Laurens, 1948 (original plaster cast)
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Les Pionniers de la Sculpture Contemporaine, 1948 (original plaster cast)
Paris, Galerie A.Maeght, Germaine Richier, October-November 1948, no. 10 (original plaster cast illustrated in the catalogue)
Sao Paulo, Do Museum Arte Moderna, Ière Biennale, 1950, no. 148
Venice, XXV Biennale, 1950
Anvers, Parco di Middelheim, 2a Biennale di Scultura, June-September 1953, no. 83 (illustrated in the catalogue)
Chicago, The Allan Frumkin Gallery, The Sculpture of Germaine Richier, 1950, no. 2
Paris, Musée Nationale d'Art Moderne, Germaine Richier, October-December 1956, no. 5
New York, Martha Jackson Gallery, The Sculpture of Germaine Richier, November-December 1957, no. 24
Minneapolis, Walker Art Centre, Sculpture of Germaine Richier, September-November 1958, no. 2
Boston, University of Fine and Applied Arts, Sculpture by Germaine Richier, January-February 1959, no. 28
Zurich, Kunsthaus, Germaine Richier, June-July 1963, no. 30 (illustrated in the catalogue)
Arles, Musée Réattu, Germaine Richier, July-September 1964, no. 12
Zurich, Gimpel and Hanover Galerie, Germaine Richier, César, Louis Lutz, Skulpturen, February-April 1970, no. 2
Humlebaek, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Germaine Richier, August-September 1988, no. 6 (illustrated in the catalogue)
Saint Etienne, Musée d'Art Moderne de Saint Etienne, L'Art en Europe, les Années décisives 1945-1953, December-February 1988 (illustrated in the catalogue p. 93)

拍品专文

Germaine Richier emerged as one of the most significant sculptors in France after the Second World War. From 1946 she concentrated on human and animal forms, and with her expressionistic style created a new bestiary of bizarre, imaginary creatures; her very own hybrid beings. Richier's unique interpretation of the natural world was fused with a supreme technique, developed after her apprenticeship with Bourdelle, whereby forms could be cast with shell-like, batwing delicacy.
"La Mante Grande", executed in 1946, is a darkly menacing figure. It bears a strong likeness to other pieces from the same year, such as "L'Araignée" or "L'Homme Chauve-Souris". In all these, the surfaces appear heavily corroded, and evoke the texture of the bark of a tree, or the surface of a rock, or even human flesh. In her works Richier was eager to fuse elements from the animal, vegetable and mineral world.
Because of their disintegrating and haunted appearance, the sculptures often seemed close to that of Giacometti. However, they derive from a very different source. Richier wanted to invent metaphors for humanity wasted and degraded by the fear and savagery that she had come to know in the Forties. As the artist herself said, "Je suis plus sensible à un arbre calciné qu'à un pomme en fleurs". (repro. in Germaine Richier 1904-1959, Ex. Cat., Galerie Creuzevault, Paris 1966)