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an image of a clay portrait of a mana sculpture of a man in a suit and tie on a plaquea sculpture of a man with a beard on a platean image of a bust of a man with a bearda sculpture of a man with a hat on a tablea wooden bowl that is sitting on a tablea brown plate with a hole in it on a white surface
VALOIR POUSSE-CORNET Maison de ventes

62 - Gustave Frédéric MICHEL (1851–1924). Portrait of a distingui…
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Estimate €80 - €100
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Description
Gustave Frédéric MICHEL (1851–1924). Portrait of a distinguished gentleman. Signed terracotta medallion. ‘G. MICHEL’ and dated 1908 on the right. Diameter: 43 cm. Some damage. Provenance: a private collection in Tours focusing on the Beaux-Arts competitions and the Prix de Rome in the 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as on academic works. One of the most renowned sculptors of his time, Michel made a highly acclaimed debut at the 1875 Salon with *Hébé and Jupiter’s Eagle*, which earned him a second-class medal. From then on, his works, characterised by a highly personal style, continued to win critical acclaim and secured him international fame, though this is largely forgotten today. In 1904, Paul Leroi wrote, unequivocally: “An artist to the very core, Mr Gustave Michel is a sculptor of absolutely unrivalled calibre” (L’Art, Oct. 1904, no. 78, p. 483). A regular at the Salons, he was awarded a travel grant in recognition of the success achieved in 1883 by a plaster cast, *The Blind Man and the Paralysed Man* (Ivry-sur-Seine Depot), and he was awarded a medal of honour in 1896 for the presentation of *La Pensée* (Sorbonne). Furthermore, he distinguished himself at the World’s Fairs of 1889 and 1900, where he was successively honoured with a gold medal for *Fortune Removing Her Blindfold* (Bône, plaster cast at the Museum of Nancy) and the Grand Prix for *Form Emerging from Matter* (Lille). Like his contemporaries, he also left his mark on late-19th-century Parisian architecture: *Le Travail et la Paix*, the portal of the liberal arts in 1889; eight boatmen and blacksmiths on the piers of the Bir-Hakeim Bridge in 1906; the caryatids at the Opéra-Comique; the statues of ‘Modern France’ on the Alexandre III Bridge and of the ‘Clear Spring’ at the Petit Palais. Trained by Jouffroy (1806–1882) in the tradition of David d’Angers and Pradier, yet following the example of Rude and Carpeaux, he sought to move beyond mere formal beauty and infuse his work with the spirit of nature. For this reason, he took pleasure in tackling allegorical themes, often of the most complex kind, such as *Pursuing His Chimera* (1896), *The Rhythm of the Waves* (ibid.), *At the Twilight of Life* (1901) or *The Ecstasy of the Infinite*, which seem to stimulate his imagination, though without ever displaying any romantic tendencies. He did not hesitate to draw on the aesthetic traditions of Rude, the 18th century, the Quattrocento and the Renaissance to create works such as *Remember* (1891), *L’Aurore* (1896), the statues on the Bir-Hakeim Bridge, *L’Amour vainqueur* (1887) and *Circé* (1886), which he imbued with a sense of profound reflection. A sincere and modernist artist, ‘striving to imbue his marbles and bronzes with a sense of life and beauty stripped of unnecessary archaism, he is, according to J. Uzanne, one of the few who know how to skilfully temper the harshness of stone and bronze with a touch of nature and a movement of lines with tranquil undulations. All the figures he sculpts are imbued with serenity; their contemplative faces seem to gaze beyond time, a sort of melancholic quality that makes them appear like the pensive effigies of eternal contemplation’. (A. S., in Catalogue of the exhibition *From Carpeaux to Matisse*, Arras, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais, Lille, Musée Rodin, 1983–1983, pp. 266–267). Bibliography: - ‘Gustave Michel, sculptor’, *Art et décoration*, no. 9, September 1906, pp. 69–80. - Catalogue of the exhibition *From Carpeaux to Matisse*, Arras, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais, Lille, Musée Rodin, 1983–1983, pp. 266–267.
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Auction time 07/27/2026 at 9:15 AM
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