Joseph Csaky (1888-1971) - "woman Sitting On Her Knees"

“Woman sitting on her knees” Bronze print with nuanced brown patina Fonderie Delval, foundry stamp Signed, dated 59 and numbered 2/8 Height: 30 cm Width: 12.5 cm – Length: 14 cm Bibliography: This bronze is reproduced in the work of Félix Marcilhac, published by l'Amateur, Paris 2007 under n° 1959-FM/d, page 382 Biography: Joseph CSAKY (1888-1971) Born in 1888 in Szeged, in Austria-Hungary, Joseph Csaky enrolled at the Royal Hungarian Institute of Arts and Crafts. Disappointed by the traditional course content, he left the establishment after 18 months to pursue an independent career in modeling and stone cutting. He executed several commissions, including a bust of the Count of Karoly, and left for Paris in 1908. He took a studio at La Ruche, the refuge for artists in Montparnasse, and thus immediately joined the international community of artists who frequented the neighborhood. Vaugirard. He began by being an assistant to an art dealer, while making molds for sculptors and posing for artists, before making his debut at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts of 1910-1911. He participated in the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Indépendant between 1911 and 1923. Csaky was one of the first sculptors, after Alexander Archipenko, to adapt Cubist composition rules to a three-dimensional format. He declared that he had created a new reality whereby one could observe all aspects of a sculpture without having to turn around it, that is to say simply by moving one's gaze in space. An ardent promoter of the movement, Csaky was appointed secretary of the modern art magazine Montjoie in 1911. Among his first sculptures are, “Tête d’Adolescent” in plaster and the figure of a standing woman.” These are cubist creations in their own right: monolithic masses adorned with sharp edges which run from one plane to another. Secondary details, such as hair or folds, are rendered using simple engraved lines. When the First World War broke out, Csaky joined the same Foreign Legion regiment as Gustave Miklos. Demobilized in 1919, he devoted himself again to his abstract compositions, which were henceforth reduced to a set of cones, disks, cylinders and spheres. In 1920 he participated in the exhibition “Les Maîtres de Cubisme” which was held in the Galerie de Léonce Rosenberg, rue de Baume. The Hungarian emigrant is now an integral part of the artistic elite. In the mid-1920s, Csaky began to soften his strongly angular Cubist approach by borrowing from the more figurative style popular in the Parisian Salons, as demonstrated in his series of animal studies from 1924. He had a predilection for Burgundy limestone, rock crystal, granite and Belgian black marble. A founding member of the Union of Modern Artists (UAM), Csaky participated in its inaugural exhibition in 1930 at the Pavillon Marsan and he exhibited with this group for the following two years. Throughout the 1930s, he participated in the International Exhibition of Arts and Techniques and exhibited in numerous museums and galleries in Europe and the United States. His works are acquired by major collectors of modern art. Aware that Cubism had influenced most of his works in the early years, Csaky ensured that this style no longer stifled his creativity, especially after 1940. His works now denote a return to the figurative, their contours also gaining roundness and gently, movement prevailing over form. Despite the importance of his work and the worldwide fame he achieved after a career spanning more than sixty years, he died in poverty. Paris Manaus Gallery