Study For Mahogany Christ

GL monogram stamp lower right. Provenance: Family of the artist, Private collection XXth frame in waxed wood, anti-reflective Clarity glass From the Versailles bourgeoisie and a jeweler father, it is under the paternal wing that Georges Lacombe trained in meticulous woodworking . Young, he received an excellent cultural education tinged with religiosity. It was at the end of his studies that he turned to painting. Lacombe frequents the Parisian studio of Henri Gervex, without however undertaking a formal artistic training. Benefiting from an intellectual family circle, he established rich artistic relationships very early on. It was through this that in 1892 he met Paul Sérusier, who introduced him to his fellow Nabis students at the Académie Julian. Lacombe thus became friends with Maurice Denis, Bonnard, Roussel, Ranson and Vuillard. In October 1893, he joined their exhibition at the Le Barc de Boutteville gallery where he presented sculpted wood, which earned him the name of the nabi sculptor by his friends. During the winter of 1894, he visited Paul Gauguin in the studio on rue Vercingétorix in Paris. Both find a common passion for woodworking and are interested in a mystical language without borders. This meeting encourages and deeply reinforces the artistic orientation of Lacombe. Ill. 1: Georges Lacombe, Christ, 1989-90. Carved mahogany, 2.75 mx 2.18 m, Brest, Museum of Fine Arts. Ill. 2: Anonymous photographer, Lacombe posing as Christ, 1898. Albumen print, private collection. Our drawing, a preparatory sketch for the monumental Christ of Mahogany kept at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Brest (Ill. 1) proves to be the incarnation of the various artistic inspirations of the artist. It was during his stay in the South-West in 1895 that the artist began a series of sketches after a 17th century Christ on the Cross kept in the Saint-Salvi collegiate church in Albi. The singularity of the Christ of Lacombe results in fact from a protean inspiration stemming from Egyptian, Breton and Albigensian Romanesque sculpture. Our drawing should be compared to the photograph (Ill. 2) of Lacombe himself, aged 30, posing as Christ. Just like Paul Gauguin, Georges Lacombe is an autodidact, who having freely meditated on eclectic references, allowed us to open our eyes to forms of non-academic beauty.