Offered by Galerie Latham
This group is made of two separated bronzes.
Carl-Albert Angst (1875-1965) was born into a family of Zurich cabinetmakers. He entered the School of Arts et Métiers of Geneva to learn wood sculpture and he also took courses in drawing. To earn a living, he went to Paris to work as a cabinetmaker and xylograver, in
the workshop of the sculptor Jean Dampt (1854-1945), with whom he trained and then collaborated, from 1895 to 1901. The young sculptor set up on his own from 1903 and quickly became renowned thanks to
its Art Nouveau style furniture. Already in 1896, on the occasion of the Swiss National Exhibition, he had exhibited a singular cabinet-secretary in carved walnut, very symbolist, entitled “Life human”, superimposing a child’s head, a middle-aged man and a skull, which caused a sensation and will be acquired in 1899 by the Museum of Arts and History of Geneva. Between 1905 and 1910, Carl Angst went on to sculpt some of the most important works of his career, including busts and portraits of children which led to him being compared to Jean Carriès by the Swiss art historian Daniel Baud-Bovy (Revue Pages d’Art, June 1925, p. 124). Another Swiss writer and journalist renowned, Henri de Ziégler, also describes in a very glowing manner the vitality of his expressiveness: “
I love in Angst this love of life and above all, in these beautiful great remains of always, of life which germinates, blooms and flourishes. Strength, instinct, love, intelligence and will and thrilling matter
again, all this, which does not involve any hierarchy, merges into the synthesis “life”, which is respectable and beautiful everywhere” (in: “Swiss Christmas 1917”, Édition Atar, Geneva).
Multiple flagship works were thus born, which were integrated into major museums in Switzerland (Zurich, Basel, Geneva), also in France, where he had collected a large recognition within the National Society of Fine Arts in Paris (Auguste Rodin was there then president of the jury). Angst was made a life member there in 1909. Member of the jury at the Exhibition International School of Fine Arts in Paris, he was decorated with the Legion of Honor in 1928. His recognition even became international, when he was named Member of the Fine Arts jury
for the Amsterdam Olympic Games in 1928, and organizing member of the Exhibition international exhibition of fine arts in Brussels, in 1929. The artist, however, returned to work Geneva since 1911. He was appointed for a time as a professor at the Geneva School of Industrial Arts (1911-1913), teaching which he quickly left to devote himself fully to his artistic work. He will be during his career several times appointed Member of the Federal Commission of Fines Arts (from 1916 to 1918, then from 1927 to 1930). From 1913, the sculptor produced numerous
public monuments, works of funerary art, commemorative plaques, portraits in busts or medals… “The monument to Genevan soldiers who died under arms (1920) closes this heartbroken cycle where the genius of Angst so naturally achieves the fraternal expression of misery human. » comments Daniel Baud-Bovy (ibidem, p. 125). Angst remains one of the rare sculptors of his time still sculpting in direct size (unlike Rodin, for example, who worked by prior modeling).
The two bronze sculptures by Carl Angst that I am presenting to you for sale today are of major interest for several reasons. They must be considered as a group, entitled "The Dance", dated 1924, mentioned in this important article by Daniel Baud-Bovy (ibidem, p.127). The historian
appreciates in the production of the mid-time of the 20s this in-depth analysis of anatomy, but in a plastic synthesis "retaining only the strictly organic points". They can rightly be regarded as a summit of his art in this desire he had to simplify the form, to generalize the expression. The simplification of the body in movement that he operates remains
extremely lively and graceful. In a synchronous and symmetrical movement, the man and the woman perform a figure undoubtedly inspired by the teaching of the Swiss musician, composer and
pedagogue Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1875-1950), at the origin of a rhythmic dance based on the musicality of movement and improvisation. Dalcroze was interested in the relationships between music and movement, particularly in the “time – space – energy” interactions. At that time — and still today — his approach influenced many artistic (music, dance, theatre) and therapeutic (psychomotricity, disability) approaches. The sculpted group of “La Danse” is reproduced by Daniel Baud-Bovy in his long article on Angst (“Pages d’Art”, June 1925): we see these two figures united on a single terrace, which we see marked with the stamp of the founder Pastori (Carouge foundry). The Geneva Museum of Art and History holds many of Angst’s sculptures, some important ones in wood (“The Craftsman. The Father of the Artist” from 1908), others in stone (including a bust of the great painter Ferdinand Hodler, from 1917), bronzes and plasters, as well as drawings (27 works
listed in total). Some of his works were unfortunately destroyed in the fire at the Palais Wilson in 1987, where the MAH’s reserves were located. But the plasters of “The Dance” fortunately remained safe, and are currently on display at the museum, in a room dedicated to sculpture techniques. On separate terraces this time, “The Dance: Man” (plaster painted brown, inv. BA 2005-0100) and “The Dance: Woman” (plaster painted pink, inv. BA 2005-0102), gifts from the Baud-Bovy family, are certainly the matrices of these two exceptional bronzes that I am offering you today.
“The Dance: Man” (H. 44 x L. 25 x W. 13 cm) and “The Dance: Woman” (H.42 x L. 23 x W. 16 cm).
