Lot 121
  • 121

Henri Laurens

Estimate
250,000 - 350,000 GBP
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Description

  • Henri Laurens
  • Femme au bras levé
  • inscribed with the artist's monogram 
  • stone
  • height: 56.5cm., 22 1/4 in.
  • width: 42.5cm., 16 3/4 in.

Provenance

Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris (acquired directly from the artist's studio)
Dr Hadorn, Bern (acquired in 1946)
Acquired by the present owner in the mid-1980s

Exhibited

Bern, Kunstmuseum Bern, Sammlung Hadorn, 1977, no. 104, illustrated in the catalogue
Baden-Baden, Museum Frieder Burda, Léger – Laurens, 2012, no. 51, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Condition

This work is stable and has a lovely warm stone colour. There are small deposits of plaster material in places, possibly inherent to the artist's process, which are visible to the naked eye but not at all distracting. There is some minor wear to the edges of the base and some light surface dirt consistent with handling. Otherwise this work appears to be in very good overall condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

In the 1920s, Henri Laurens began to create a series of female figures in terracotta and in stone. This move from his favoured medium of bronze was principally due to the ever-increasing price of bronze at that time. This more affordable and malleable media encouraged Laurens’s search for harmonious shapes within sculpture. In this period he displayed a graceful and ornamental style contrasting with the harsh and angular forms of preceding years. The naturally grainy texture and the warm colour of the material lent itself perfectly to the more fluent, sensual forms Laurens was seeking to create in sculpture.

Femme agenouillee à la draperie combines a variety of elements of primary concern for Laurens. In the present work, the female nude takes on a powerful stance, poised between balance and tension. Kneeling firmly on the floor with one leg the other hovering in mid-air creates the impression of a figure in movement, in the process of getting ready to stand. The right arm lifted above her head carries this movement upwards through her body.  The cylindrical shape of the figure supports this further and at the same time firmly grounds her to the base. With her body twisted sideways, the sculpture acquires a two dimensional quality.

For Laurens the negative space of a sculpture is equally important as that taken up by material. Endlessly pulsating between tension and stillness his figures echo those of his renowned predecessors - Auguste Rodin and Aristide Maillol. In contrast, Laurens' figures are poised without a deliberate context, inhabiting their own aura of eternity.

Towards the end of his life Laurens said: ‘When I begin a sculpture I have only a vague idea of what I want it to be. For example, I have an idea of a woman or something that has to do with the sea. Before my sculpture becomes a representation [reproduction] of anything, it is a sculptural fact. More precisely, it is a result of sculptural events, of the products of my imagination, of answers to the demands of the construction. On the whole it is all the work amounts to. The title comes last.’ (quoted in Werner Hofmann, The Sculpture of Henri Laurens, New York, 1970p. 31).