La tempête et les nuées

Perhaps best known for his Art Nouveau works epitomized by his depictions of the Loïe Fuller, François Raoul Larche was an artist who embodied the spirit of his age. Like his contemporaries across various discipline, Larche sought to reject historicism and infuse his work with spirit and passion, which was ultimately achieved by drawing inspiration from nature. As his biographer Dominique Renoux indicates, for Larche the most inspiring aspect of nature was the female form and throughout his career he reinterpreted its undulations, supple lines, and harmonious contours (D. Renoux, 'Raoul Larche, statuaire (1860-1912)', Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art français, 1994, p. 250). Two distinct interpretations of the female form emerged from his oeuvre; the first personified by the gravity-defying diaphanous drapery of his Loïe Fuller series and the superbly chaotic and frenetic fury embodied of La Tempête et les nuées.

Larche’s original plaster for the present group was first exhibited to critical acclaim at the 1896 Paris Salon resulting in a civic commission from the City of Paris for 3.5 meter example. The monumental work was subsequently exhibited in the 1899 Salon and again at the 1900 Exposition universelle. The group’s popularity and commercial success was assured by Larche’s agreement with the revered Parisian foundeur Siot-Decauville to produce the model in various sizes. The present lot, measuring 85 cm., was offered at 3000 francs, a price commanded only by his contemporary Jean-Léon Gérôme. An example was exhibited by Marius Dubonnet at the Moulin Rouge in 1903 for Le championnat du monde de force au Moulin Rouge: ‘The storm is personified by a woman, a mistress woman, a woman athlete who soars, the flowing hair, the face transfigured, the hollow eyes, howling! screaming! sowing death and distress in its path...it is frightening! (L. Manaud, ‘Poiuds & Haltères: Le Championnat de Monde de Force: Le Prix Dubonnet,’ L’Auto, Paris, 29 September 1903, p. 1.).