Roger Besus - Bust Of Paul-emile Victor - Plaster With Bronze Patina 60 Cm - Artist Provenance

BESUS (Roger) - Bust of Paul-Emile Victor in a coat with a large fur collar. Plaster bust with verdigris bronze patina with small gold highlights, signed and dated under the collar at the back "Bésus 79", (height: 600 - width at the collar: 450 - depth: 350). Perfect condition Life-size bust, very realistic, with an extraordinary presence, undoubtedly the artist's masterpiece. Provenance: Personal collection of the artist. We provide with the bust a copy of his notebook with a long history of 2 pp., of which here are the main lines: Started April 15, 1979 - Completed December 9, 79 - Cast December 17, 79 - Exhibited at the Irène Gallery Huisse (Rouen) in March 80 - Renaissance Prize on April 22, 80 - Development of the test for bronze in July 80 exhibited in Oissel, Elbeuf, in Le Trait, at the Rouen Maritime Salon from October 80 to January 25, 1981 - Given to Paul-Emile Victor, by Leprince-Ringuet at the "Train Bleu" on February 25, 81 (Mention not appearing in these notes: This bust stands at the heart of the Dumont d'Urville base, on the island of Pétrels in the archipelago of Pointe Géologie. Paul-Emile Victor discovered it with emotion during his last trip to Antarctica in 1987) - A copy of the Polar Expeditions for the Paul-Emile Victor Museum in Les Rousses (Jura) [in fact, in Prémanon ] October 8, 1988 - A bronze specimen acquired by the city of Rouen for the Museum on September 3, 1991… Paul, Eugène Victor known as Paul-Émile Victor or PEV (Geneva 1907 - Bora-Bora 1995), famous polar explorer, scientist , ethnologist, French writer, founder and patron of French polar expeditions for 29 years. Roger Bésus (Bayeux 1915 - Rouen 1994), French writer and sculptor. From 1947 to 1971, he published eighteen novels. In 1977, Roger Bésus stopped publishing and discovered a second vocation, sculpture, to which he devoted himself with the same seriousness and the same ardor, while continuing to keep his journal regularly. It's a new life. Already, in April 1975, he wrote: “my passion for sculpture is growing to an unimaginable point. I feel like a sculptor…”. In his house in Bierville, "he entered sculpture, committing himself to this new career as if he had eternity" (Evelyne Le Corronc) and the works were to follow one another quickly: busts of Christian Dédeyan, Louis Leprince- Ringuet (1979), Paul-Emile Victor, Colonel Rémy (1981), Mgr Ducaud-Bourget (placed in the Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet church), La Varende (1987), Mgr Lefebvre and many others.