ÉVARISTE JONCHÈRE (1892-1956). First Grand... - Lot 130 - Lynda Trouvé

ÉVARISTE JONCHÈRE (1892-1956). First Grand Prix de Rome for sculpture in 1925. Indochina Prize in 1932. Director of the École des Beaux-Arts d'Indochine in 1938. Young Vietnamese woman or Annamite woman's torso. Reconstituted stone, life-size. Unsigned. Height: 86 cm. Original work in reconstituted stone from which posthumous bronzes were made at the Fonderie Godard. Provenance: Jonchère-Debiol Collection. According to Madame Jonchère's recollections, the torso was created during the sculptor's second stay in Indochina, in 1944. It was an exhilarating period for the artist, a fruitful one of intense activity. In addition to teaching, Jonchère's mission was to revive traditional arts, and he organized exhibitions throughout Indochina. At this time, the original terracotta torso was presented at the Salon in Hanoi. In 1947, our reconstituted stone version was exhibited at the Société des Artistes Français (under number 1446). The young Vietnamese woman who posed was a friend of de Jonchère's first boy. To persuade her to pose, the sculptor had to provide her with a dowry and pay her a salary. Jonchère, a great master of the "return to order" of the classical movement of this period, created this torso as a free adaptation of the antique model. The attitude he chooses, his modelling in the tradition of Rodin, and the care given to the chasing of the stone reveal all the sensuality of the model celebrated as a feminine ideal.