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an image of a relief of a group of people in a foresta wooden sculpture of a man laying on a beda piece of luggage that has been left on the tablea piece of paper on a piece of wood with writing on it
Maître Jean Emmanuel PRUNIER

34 - Georges Lacombe (1816–1916). ‘Les femmes damnées’ – reclinin…
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Estimate €8,000 - €10,000
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Description
Georges Lacombe (1816–1916). ‘Les femmes damnées’ – reclining damned women. Carved wooden bas-relief, circa 1905–1907, monogram in the bottom right-hand corner. Dimensions 60 x 29.5 x 4.5 cm. On the reverse, old exhibition and transport labels, including one from Pont-Aven Town Hall: ‘Gauguin and his Friends Exhibition’, Georges Lacombe, *The Damned Women*, catalogue no. 98, owner Mr Hepp. This work was exhibited in 1907 at the Bernheim Gallery, Rue Richepanse, in an exhibition of works (paintings and sculptures) by Messrs Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Hermann-Paul, Lacombe, Aristide Maillol, Ranson, K-X Roussel, Sérusier, Valloton and Vuillard, 3–15 June, no. 27. It is reproduced in the catalogue raisonné, p. 122, and Cat. 182a, p. 187. The panel shown here is the first in the series. It depicts *The Reclining Damned Women*, a reference to the first stanza of Charles Baudelaire’s poem. Here, the artist uses a horizontal format to depict the reclining, entwined bodies of the women. He adopts a refined, symbolist style to evoke the landscape—a sort of paradisiacal natural setting against a ‘background of trees with scaly trunks like those of coconut palms or date palms’—and, within this interweaving of elements, creates a harmony between the flora and the female nudes. In this bas-relief, one can perceive the marks of the sculptor’s work and all his skill. As the artist’s gouge delves deep into the thickness of the wood, the work becomes more refined; the depiction of the women softens; the artist rounds off the contours of the bodies and, playing upon the wood’s grain, the voluptuous silhouettes and curves of the bodies are rendered with great sensuality. Bibliographical references: Catalogue raisonné ‘George Lacombe – 1868–1916’ by Joëlle Ansieau, Somogy Edition d’art, 1998.
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About the sale TRANSFORMING MATERIALS
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Auction time 11/08/2026 at 2:00 PM
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