Bronze with brown patina by Arno BREKER. Rare piece, n° 3/6, bearing the signature of "Jean Cocteau" on the base of the neck, the signature of "Arno Breker" and the founder's mark "E. Godard lost wax".
Total height 58 cm, bronze 43 cm.
Period 1963
Very Good Condition
Only 6 copies, this one is number 3.
A copy, offered by Arno Breker to Dali, exhibited now at the Dali Museum in Figuéras (Spain).
Provenance: French private collection.
Reproduced pages 4 & 35 in the work "Arno Breker" by Paul Morand and Castor Seibel, Marco edition in Paris, 1974. "Arno Breker" by Rudolf Conrades " 2006, pages 13 & 140.
Arno Breker 1900-1991
German sculptor, student of the Academy of Fine Arts in Dusseldorf, he moved to Paris in 1926 and became a student of Aristide Maillol. He rubbed shoulders with A. Calder, Jean Cocteau, Foujita, Brancusi, Picasso. Obtaining the Prix de Rome in 1932 brought him international recognition. Appointed professor of fine arts in Berlin, the Reich commissioned numerous monuments from him. However, it seems that he never adhered to the racist National Socialist ideology but accepted this regime by "opportunism and megalomania". We owe him numerous interventions in favor of persecuted artists, including Jean Marais and Pablo Picasso, then a communist. After the war, he created busts of French artists including Jean Cocteau and Jean Marais, the bust of Egyptian President Anwar and a monument for the King of Morocco, Hassan II. He continued to sculpt until his death in 1991. His eulogy was delivered by the writer Roger Peyrefitte.