Art as Jewelry as Art
Art as Jewelry as Art
Hubert Le Gall
Set of a Obsidian Swallow Pendant and Jewelry Stand with Mirror
Lot Closed
October 6, 06:31 PM GMT
Estimate
6,000 - 8,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Hubert Le Gall
b. 1961
Set of a Obsidian Swallow Pendant and Jewelry Stand with Mirror
A) 2018, signed and inscribed Le Gall, edition 1/8
silvered bronze and obsidian (black lava) in the shape of a bird, made for an exhibition at Galerie Pierre-Alain Challier, Paris, 2018 (edition Pacea); CUB-ART for obsidian
4¾ by 3½ by 3⁄8 in.; 12 by 8.9 by .9 cm.
B) 2018, inscribed with monogram HG, edition 4/8
wood (maple, natural and stained), obsidian, and mirror glass, maple base with protruding spikes in the same material; top half stained matte black; 6 spikes, 4 black, 1 with additional spike, every black spike is penetrating a perfectly spherical obsidian element at its tip; the central spike (supporting all the rest) terminates in a striated obsidian disk with inset circular mirror
Height: 16¼ in.; 41.3 cm.
Base diameter: 7 in.; 17.8 cm.
Widest point: 8¾ in.; 22.22 cm.
Obsidian disc diameter: 6⅞ in.; 17. 46 cm.
Mirror diameter: 3⅞ in.; 7.6 cm.
Directly from the artist, current owner
Musée Mandet, Hubert Le Gall - Design en liberté, Gourcuff Gradenico, Paris, 2014, p. 10
Hubert Le Gall and Pamela Mullin, Hubert Le Gall, Flammarion, Paris, 2018, p. 45
Le Gall’s Swallow Pendant is matched to the Jewelry Stand with Mirror. While simpler in form, this large pendant has taken his striated obsidian to new heights with the addition of a swallow in flight. Its wings are spread and two tail-feathers trail behind the body, allowing the eye to travel. An offset punched circle forms the eye and the head terminates in an open beak and is silhouetted by a halo in the form of a silver circle. Atop the flat body surface is an identically-shaped piece of Le Gall’s signature striated obsidian (a natural volcanic glass), which matches the similarly-haloed Mirror perfectly.
Le Gall’s signature striated obsidian collection culminates with this Jewelry Stand with Mirror, allowing the viewer’s playful interaction with the unique form of the object. Le Gall has set the obsidian disk on its end to hold the mirror and will be best appreciated against a light background so that the natural imperfections in the material can be seen and allowed to mimic the stained black wood of the spike tips that hold the viewer’s jewelry. The interplay of matte wood and smooth obsidian speaks to how Le Gall 'belongs to that category of artists who love the feel of the materials they choose, who use their hands to fiddle around and experiment with them' (Musée Mandet, Hubert Le Gall - Design en liberté, Gourcuff Gradenico, Paris, 2014, p. 10).
Obsidian is a naturally-formed black volcanic glass and tends to fracture in sharp edges.