拍品專文
Executed in 1957-1959 and acquired by the late owners during the artist’s lifetime, Les amoureux is a striking example of Zadkine’s mastery of wood carving and demonstrates the sculptor’s ability to infuse an inanimate material with a potent sense of expression.
Belarusian-born, Zadkine's fondness for wood and its intrinsic link with nature began during his childhood which was spent on the banks of the Dnieper river and near the forests of Russia, where his maternal uncle introduced him to the techniques of carving. The verticality of the graceful figures bring the forest to mind. The standing form was a central motif throughout the artists oeuvre and these works have been described as “veritable poems in stone, wood or alabaster.” Ionel Jianou has written, "These statues stare at us with their whole bodies. A quiver of sensuality, desire, and purity animates the slightly rounded surfaces of these young, tall, slim, lissome, highly polished, and occasionally lacquered bodies, over which light fairly streams" (op. cit., pp. 54-56).
Zadkine fled war-torn Paris for New York in 1941, where he found himself in the company of other artists who had also left France, including Fernand Léger, Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst and Marc Chagall. In 1942, he participated in Pierre Matisse’s seminal Artists in Exile show, and worked as a teacher at The Art Students League.
In the present work, carved directly by hand, the artist has harnessed the natural features of ebony to accentuate the soft forms, outlines, and undulating curves of the figures. In carving, smoothing and polishing the surface, Zadkine brings out the best of the material properties of the wood. “In his urge to select the medium best suited to his specific mood and artistic concept, he has used in his work such varied items as wood, stone, marble, sandstone, granite, quartz, porphyry, alabaster, crystal, lead, aluminum, bronze, terracotta, and stanniferous potter's clay. His thorough acquaintance with the structure of wood has determined his preference for elm, ebony and acacia...also carved box-wood, oak, pear-tree wood, apple-tree wood, cherry wood, in Brazilian woods and Ugandan woods...This great wealth and variety of media testify to the importance attached to choice of materials, and to perfect mastery of the sculptor's craft. ‘I remain a craftsman’ he has often pointed out, ‘a worker caring for excellence in execution, apart from the idea and the originality’” (ibid., p. 54).
Zadkine was evidently satisfied with Les amoureux. Shortly after it was finished, the sculpture was selected for two exhibitions in Europe dedicated to his work, and an edition of bronzes was cast in the 1960s. Number 1/6 is kept at the Musée Zadkine in Paris.
Belarusian-born, Zadkine's fondness for wood and its intrinsic link with nature began during his childhood which was spent on the banks of the Dnieper river and near the forests of Russia, where his maternal uncle introduced him to the techniques of carving. The verticality of the graceful figures bring the forest to mind. The standing form was a central motif throughout the artists oeuvre and these works have been described as “veritable poems in stone, wood or alabaster.” Ionel Jianou has written, "These statues stare at us with their whole bodies. A quiver of sensuality, desire, and purity animates the slightly rounded surfaces of these young, tall, slim, lissome, highly polished, and occasionally lacquered bodies, over which light fairly streams" (op. cit., pp. 54-56).
Zadkine fled war-torn Paris for New York in 1941, where he found himself in the company of other artists who had also left France, including Fernand Léger, Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst and Marc Chagall. In 1942, he participated in Pierre Matisse’s seminal Artists in Exile show, and worked as a teacher at The Art Students League.
In the present work, carved directly by hand, the artist has harnessed the natural features of ebony to accentuate the soft forms, outlines, and undulating curves of the figures. In carving, smoothing and polishing the surface, Zadkine brings out the best of the material properties of the wood. “In his urge to select the medium best suited to his specific mood and artistic concept, he has used in his work such varied items as wood, stone, marble, sandstone, granite, quartz, porphyry, alabaster, crystal, lead, aluminum, bronze, terracotta, and stanniferous potter's clay. His thorough acquaintance with the structure of wood has determined his preference for elm, ebony and acacia...also carved box-wood, oak, pear-tree wood, apple-tree wood, cherry wood, in Brazilian woods and Ugandan woods...This great wealth and variety of media testify to the importance attached to choice of materials, and to perfect mastery of the sculptor's craft. ‘I remain a craftsman’ he has often pointed out, ‘a worker caring for excellence in execution, apart from the idea and the originality’” (ibid., p. 54).
Zadkine was evidently satisfied with Les amoureux. Shortly after it was finished, the sculpture was selected for two exhibitions in Europe dedicated to his work, and an edition of bronzes was cast in the 1960s. Number 1/6 is kept at the Musée Zadkine in Paris.