Lying Doe, head down - Armand PETERSEN (1891-1969)

Sculpture in dull finish white tender paste porcelain.
The bottom signed with the monogram « A.P. ».
Old edition artwork.
Stamped « B & G (Bing & Grøndahl), Kjøbenhavn, Danmark » (with the three towers derived from the Coat of Arms of Copenhagen).
Numbered 2153/M

A Copenhagen Bing and Grondähl Manufacture’s porcelain work exhibited at the 1932 Paris “Salon d'Automne“.

A similar model is reproduced in « Petersen », Liliane Colas, Editions Finzi, 2004, page 34, n°5, « Art et Décoration», t.62, 1933, page 59 et dans « Mobilier et Décoration », janvier 1933, page 21.

France
circa 1932
length : 23 cm (9 in.)

Biography :
Armand Petersen (1891-1969), of Danish ancestry, was born in Basel (Switzerland). He entered the School of Industrial Arts in Geneva, in the class of goldsmith and chiselling. In 1914, Petersen arrived in Paris to continue his studies but left for four years to join the studio of the Hungarian sculptor Bela Markup who introduced him to modeling. As an animal sculptor, he introduced him to animals at the zoo in Budapest. In 1924, animal art was booming. Pompon, revealed in 1922 at the Salon d'Automne with his great white bear, brought together young animal artists to the Jardin des Plantes who studied models on nature by following his advice. The choice of the animal asserted itself in 1926, Armand Petersen worked at the fauvery of the Jardin des Plantes and joined the group of the followers of Pompon who taught his method. The first exhibition of the "Animal artists" opened in the Brandt Gallery in 1927. Petersen found himself alongside Sandoz, Bigot, Artus and Pompon. Criticism noticed this new artist. The Manufacture de Sèvres sought contemporary works of contemporary art to adapt them to its recent material, with colored soft sandstone giving a different look to the biscuit. The Manufacture retained then three works by Petersen.

Unlike the works of Pompon "which were naturally beasts of God, without fear", the beasts of Petersen always seemed on the alert. This particular subtle expression made Petersen a talented animal artist. In 1929, two years after his "discovery" Armand Petersen was one of the best animal sculptors. He was quoted after Pompon and as his emulator. In 1931 the group of "Twelve French Animal artists" filed its statutes. Petersen, as a Swiss citizen, was part of the group as a guest. In 1932, the economic crisis affected artists who often exhibit their works in plaster. The ceramic editions provided then an income for many artists, such as Petersen who multiplied them both at the Manufacture de Sèvres and at the Bing & Grøndahl National Manufacture in Copenhagen with new contracts.

After the death of Pompon in 1933, the group dissolved quickly. The animal artists thanks to Sandoz who bought the Brandt Gallery continued to meet until 1939, when the mobilization of war dissolved the group of animals. In 1935, Petersen obtained French nationality but returned regularly to Switzerland.