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149
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A VERY BEAUTIFUL SCULPTURE, “HEAD OF ANTONI STONIMSKI”, BY A…
See original version (French)
149
-
A VERY BEAUTIFUL SCULPTURE, “HEAD OF ANTONI STONIMSKI”, BY A…
See original version (French)
Estimate €8,000 - €12,000
Voluntary lot
Description
A VERY BEAUTIFUL SCULPTURE, “HEAD OF ANTONI STONIMSKI”, BY August ZAMOYSKI (1893–1970)
A Formist portrait of Antoni Stonimski, in bronze with a golden patina, signed on the plinth. Artist’s proof bearing the foundry mark “Clementi”.
Posthumous edition based on the 1927 diorite version, currently in the collections of the National Museum in Warsaw. A plaster model from 1923 is also known to have existed, though it is now lost.
Several copies of this work were commissioned by Father André Gouzes of Sylvanès Abbey for the Zamoyski Museum in Les Granges.
Enclosed is a copy of a certificate from the Clementi foundry dated 19 March 2021.
Provenance: Private collection
Expert: Mr Christophe Zagrodzki
Dimensions: approx. 20 x 27 x 13 cm
Good condition
Sold by description
Bibliography:
Zofia Kossakowska-Szanajca, August Zamoyski, Arkady, Warsaw 1974, no. 58
Repr. 32 & 33 (stone version)
Zofia Kossakowska-Szanajca, August Zamoyski 1893–1970, MNW, Warsaw 1993, no. 89, ill. p. 55, (original plaster). Catalogue of the exhibition at the National Museum in Warsaw.
Anna Lipa, August Zamoyski. Myslec w Kamieniu. Muzeum Literatury, Warsaw 2019, no. 24, repr. p. 144 (original plaster cast), p. 232 (stone version)
Maria Sledzianowska, August Zamoyski. Nie tylko z Archwum, Muzeum Literatury, Warsaw 2019, reprinted on p. 423 (original plaster cast)
The sculpture depicts Antoni Slonimski (1895–1976), an eminent author, poet and journalist, known for his sense of absurd humour, and co-founder of the avant-garde poets’ group Skamander.
It is practically the last portrait in the Formist style produced by Zamoyski, before he moved towards a more classical style.
It is also the most caricatured, which seems to illustrate the sometimes strained relationship between the artist and his subject.
This sculpture is also part of the series of ‘double portraits’, in which Zamoyski approaches the subject in two ways: one realistic, the other featuring the maximum possible distortion of his model’s face.
The realistic version is known to us solely through archive photographs.
August Zamoyski, a long-forgotten artist who, according to some specialists, deserves a place amongst the greatest of his generation—such as Lipschitz, Zadkine or Laurens—is returning to the limelight.
The joint initiative undertaken by the Museum of Literature and the National Museum in Warsaw, entitled the “Zamoyski Project”, has helped to advance research into his work.
Furthermore, his presence on the art market has the merit of raising the general public’s awareness of this artist.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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