JAN AND JOËL MARTEL | "Nu"

Atelier Martel, Paris
Private Collection, France
Galerie Makassar, Paris
Wolfgang Joop, Potsdam, Germany
Sotheby's New York, Property from the Collection of Wolfgang Joop, December 12, 2003, lot 432
Laurent Negro, Gourdon, France
Christie's Paris, Les Collections du Château de Gourdon, March 31, 2011, lot 778
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Joël et Jan Martel, exh. cat., Musée de Saint-Jean-de-Monts, 1976, p. 21 (for the model in terracotta)
Arlette Barré-Despond, UAM: Union des Artistes Modernes, Paris, 1986, pp. 55 and 57 (for the model exhibited at the U.A.M. exhibition of 1931)
Solange Goguel, René Herbst, Paris, 1990, p. 63 (for the model in plaster exhibited at the U.A.M. exhibition of 1931)
Christophe Vital et al., Joel et Jan Martel: Sculpteurs 1896-1966, Paris, 1996, pp. 96-97 (for photographs and an original sketch of the design)
Guillemette Delaporte, René Herbst: Pioneer of Modernism, Paris, 2004, p. 98 (for the model in plaster exhibited at the U.A.M. exhibition of 1931)
Alastair Duncan, Art Deco Complete, New York, 2009, p. 120
Alastair Duncan, Art Deco Sculpture, New York, 2016, p. 162
Jared Gross, French Art Deco, New York, 2014, p. 154 (for a period photograph of a related model)

Founded in 1929, the Union des Artistes Modernes (U.A.M.) was an organization created by French artists, decorators, and architects who sought to transcend the stylistic restrictions of neoclassicism and Art Deco. “To conflate the arts mineurs and arts majeurs is the very task of our new movement,” asserts the manifesto. As founding members of the U.A.M., Jan and Joël Martel stood out by incorporating unconventional materials into their sculptural work. They were among the first to use new materials such as concrete, Duco enamel paint, and lakarmé, a composite material created in 1907 combining galalith and plaster. The suppleness of lakarmé allowed the Martels to create ambitious and detailed castings like this Nu, which embodies the ideals of the newly founded U.A.M. and the culmination of their work with the medium. An equally majestic version of the model in plaster was presented at the U.A.M.’s 1931 exhibition and earned them critical acclaim. The sculpture, whose stylistic ties to Cubism and Futurism are undeniable, embodies the Martels’ innovative approach to form and proportions, which is only heightened by its monumental scale. The Nu quickly became one of the brothers’ most memorable designs, one that they reproduced in various sizes and mediums throughout the 1930s.