Wild Boar - Pierre BLANC (1902-1986)

Bronze wild boar on wooden base, by Pierre BLANC. Cire perdue cast by Meroni & Radice in Paris, circa 1933, numbered 1/8.
An important Swiss sculptor of the 20th century, the Lausanne-born Pierre Blanc (1902-1986) trained at the Beaux-Arts in Geneva from 1919 to 1924. He moved to Paris in 1925, and became involved with various artists in the entourage of Antoine Bourdelle, including the animal sculptor François Pompon. He worked for some time in the workshop of Brothers Joël and Jean Martel, and at the same time began to study the drawing of animals from life, at the Vincennes Zoo or the Jardin des Plantes, which would soon become a favorite theme for him. . His animal sculpture met with success at the Salon d’Automne as well as at the Salon des Artistes Decorateurs and at the Salon des Tuileries. One of his famous works, the Pigeon boulant, was produced in sandstone by the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres in 1933. Conscripted in 1939, Pierre Blanc left France and settled in Lausanne, where he spent the rest of his career. Upon his return to Switzerland, he returned to more classically figurative sculpture and obtained numerous public and private commissions.
The “Boar” that I am presenting to you today for sale, of a very “monumental” compact shape, is undoubtedly influenced by L'Ours blanc by François Pompon (whose success with the full and smooth shapes, which contrasted with the tradition of animal sculpture inherited from the 19th century, had transformed it into a symbol of Art-Deco). Pierre Blanc also removes details, softening the surfaces which he stylizes, like Pompon, by a certain geometrization of the sides of his boar. Although massive and with a dark patina, this boar nevertheless seems devoid of ferocity, the eye is benevolent and calm, which makes it very endearing. The lost wax casting of Meroni-Radice, Parisian founders of Italian origin (who were notably the founders of Charles Despiau and Lucien Guyot, among others) and whose foundry, located in Vanves, was only active from 1921 to 1935, allows us to date our sculpture more precisely. This was certainly designed at the same period as the Boulant Pigeon (1933) kept at the Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts in Lausanne. A few years later, Pierre Blanc created another model of a wild boar in bronze, this time more naturalistic and conventional, which constituted the first public order that the City of Lausanne awarded him, in 1938, for the Parc du Denantou.