François Pompon

Sadajiro Yamanaka Collection, Osaka, Japan, ca. 1925

Bijutsukogeihin Tenrankai (The Exhibition of Arts and Crafts), Yamanaka Shokai, Osaka Bijutsu Club, Osaka, Japan, October 6-8, 1928

Raymond Escholier, "Au Salon D'Automne: La Peinture et la Sculpture," Art et Décoration, December 1922, p. 21
Maurice Dufrène, Ensembles Mobiliers: Exposition Internationale 1925, 1re Série, Paris, 1925, pl. 26
Gaston Quénioux, Les Arts Décoratifs Modernes, Paris, 1925, p. 462
Edouard De Courières, François Pompon: Vingt-sept reproductions de sculptures, Paris, 1926, p. 49
François Pompon, sculpteur animalier bourguignon, exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, 1964, p. 14 and pl. 1
Victor Arwas, Art Deco, New York, 1980, p. 170
Florence Camard, Ruhlmann, Master of Art Deco, London, 1984, pp. 92 and 247
Alastair Duncan, Encyclopedia of Art Deco, New York, 1988, p. 143
Catherine Chevillot, François Pompon: 1855-1933, Paris, 1994, illus. 33, 54, 57, 60, 73, 81, 188; pls. 1, 3, 44, 52; pp. 211-212
Rétrospective François Pompon, 1855-1933, Paris, 1999, illus. 1, 3, 5, 7 and figs. 84-87
Charlotte Benton, Tim Benton and Ghislaine Wood, Art Deco 1910-1939, London, 2003, p. 149
Emmanuel Bréon and Rosalind Pepall, eds., Ruhlmann: Genius of Art Deco, Paris, 2004, pp. 19, 46, 93 and 300

The white bear by François Pompon (1855-1933) became one of the most important animal portraits in the long career of an artist and animalier who, at the age of 67, first presented it to great acclaim at the 1922 Salon d’Automne.  Thereafter, the bear was executed in different materials and on various scales over a period of eleven years.  The iconic model was exhibited in Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann's great oval salon in the Hôtel du Collectionneur at the 1925 Paris Exposition.  Representing the creative spirit and artistic virtuosity of its creator, a bronze cast of the white bear’s head even adorned the door of the sculptor’s atelier in Paris.  In 1937, the city of Dijon erected a monumental sculpture of the white bear in honor of Pompon, who had once worked and studied there.