Maternity - Plaster From The Late Of 1950s - André Langeon (1926-2010)

This group captures the viewer with the ineffable gentleness of the gestures of primitive tenderness between mother and child.

The child's carriage seems to defy gravity, a perfect illustration of the quiet strength of maternal instinct. The mother's dress, with its many pleats and ample movement, recalls the work of Antoine Bourdelle, particularly his “Penelope”. Our work could also be a counterpart to “La Vierge d'Alsace”, whose softness matches the strength of the great master's work.

This beautiful plaster also impresses with its 103 cm height. Some will see it as a representation of Saint Anne, while others will simply perceive it as a universal figure of maternity. 

Its author is André Langeon. Son of Art Deco sculptor Marius Langeon, the Saint-Etienne-born sculptor moved to Paris on the eve of the Liberation, at the age of 18. Like his father before him, he was admitted to the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, which explored graphic arts and ornamental sculpture for interior architecture. He wins the Jacquot prize for modelled composition, which exempts him from a year's military service and gives him some financial advantages. He also had the good fortune of staying with George Hilbert, a well-established artist and future member of the Institut. In the studio made available to him by the artist, he found good conditions for sculpting and began to make a name for himself. Receiving a large number of public and private commissions, his studio prospered until the end of the twentieth century.