Jean OSOUF (1898-1996) - Bust of a woman

"Bust of a Woman

Proof in bronze with a shaded brown patina
Signed " J. Osouf ".
Numbered 1/8
Bears the founder's stamp " Cire perdue Atillio Valsuani ".

Height with base : 54 cm
Architectural base in wood of 21,5 cm

Biography:
Jean Osouf, born on June 15, 1898 in Heiltz-le-Maurupt (Marne) and died on March 19, 1996 in Nogent sur Marne.

Born into a Protestant family, Jean Osouf was a figurative sculptor.
He first distinguished himself during the First World War and was decorated with the Croix de Guerre for his bravery in battle.
When the war ended, Osouf bought a bookstore on the Place de la Sorbonne, where he shut himself up "to read".
It was Aristide Maillol, through Jean Osouf's first wife, Gisèle de Pallarès (with whom he had three children), who convinced him of his gift for sculpture. From then on, Jean Osouf joined the Scandinavian Academy where he was first a student of Adam Fischer and attended classes with Astrid Noack and Hans-Jacob Meyer before following those of Charles Despiau.

At the age of thirty, he decided to devote himself to sculpture and stopped all other activities. After discovering the Cathedral of Chartres, his work is deeply influenced by the medieval tradition. He creates draped figures and calm faces like the busts of Coralie, Jean-Claude, Catalane, Tounette, Miss Antoinette Bréard, The Young Maquisard, The Young Catalane. About these busts, Waldemar George says "Osouf finds in his busts of young girls the sinuous smile of the Angel of Rheims, this vincian smile before the letter which is one of the emblems of the French culture.

He was noticed in 1937 at the Universal Exhibition where he was commissioned to create a stone statue of 2.50 m high, The Awakening, placed in front of the Museum of Modern Art.
Then, his career took off, especially in Scandinavia, where all the national museums acquired his bronzes. He then met the woman who would become his second and last wife: Solvei Wedin, with whom he would have two more children.

On November 11, 1963, he founded the Group of Nine, with Jean Carton, Paul Cornet, Raymond Corbin, Marcel Damboise, Léon Indenbaum, Léopold Kretz, Raymond Martin, Gunnar Nilsson.
Osouf's classical and meditative style, his patient search for the inner light in his numerous portraits, give his work singularity and authenticity.