Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

Tête de Coco

Details

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
Tête de Coco
stamped with signature and numbered 'Renoir 21/30' (Lugt 2137b; lower right) and stamped with foundary mark 'C.VALSUANI CIRE PERDUE' (on the lower edge)
bronze with brown patina
Diameter: 8½ in. (21.5 cm.)
Conceived in 1907; This bronze version cast at a later date

Provenance

Mainichi Communications Auction, 14 February 1998, lot 455.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

Literature

P. Haesaerts, Renoir Sculptor, New York, 1947, p. 39, no. 1, (another cast illustrated, pl. III in black and white).

Lot Essay

Claude Renoir, nicknamed "Coco" often posed for the artist particularly during Renoir's late period. This medallion, conceived in 1907, "was intended to decorate the fireplace of the dining room in Cagnes" at the family's home (Haesaerts, op. cit. p. 19). Compared to the other Bust of Coco which is almost primitive in nature with an irregular outline, this medallion was carved as a unified portrait in the round.

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