Marguerite Mazet (1881-1947) What Is It That We Are Baï… – She Who Leaves, Domme

Marguerite MAZET
(Duravel 1881 - 1947)
Lo qué s'en baï… – Celle qui s'en va
Plaster
H. 37 cm; W. 15 cm
Signed and dated 1926 on the base

Provenance: Private collection, Périgord

Exhibition: Salon of 1926 (cast)

Bibliography: Marguerite Mazet, sculptor, Fanlac, 1974, reproduced p 13.

Born on the borders of Lot, Lot-et-Garonne and Périgord, Marguerite Cassaignes, daughter of the doctor of the same name, grew up between the rows of vines of the family home of La Gineste. Until her marriage she remained on her lands in Lot without learning sculpture, which would later become her main activity. It was through her husband, Edmond Mazet, that she would encounter Périgord, since he was from the charming fortified town of Domme, a rentier and elected to various local offices. A lover of Périgord, this man passed on to his wife his passion for this country and the patois, which many of Marguerite Mazet's sculpted works would be named after. Ruined following the Great War and Russian loans, the family would be forced to raise funds to support the family. It was at this time that Marguerite Mazet devoted herself to statuary without having received any lessons of any kind. However, success was certain and the artist would even exhibit her works at the Paris Salon in 1923, without leaving her city in Domme... With time and recognition, her work was recognized by the press and her peers, being a reflection of the Périgord of yesteryear, which the war of 1939 would take away for good. Mazet's works are therefore the memory of these traditions and costumes that have disappeared, witnesses to a difficult but simple life. One of the artist's last "projects" was the creation of a set of pieces for the nativity scene. The orders followed one another and her casts were found all over France and the world (USA, England, Africa, Korea, etc.). Today, the vast majority of Mazet's saints and three wise men are relegated to the attics of sacristies, forgotten by all. The first works were created under the pseudonym "Hope". We can only read there the translation of the word "Espoir" or "Espérance", entirely consistent with the artist's beginnings and the reason why she devoted herself to modeling clay. A newspaper clipping, without a name or date, perfectly reflects the work and spirit of Marguerite Mazet: "May she be blessed for not having been taken in by the mirages of Parisian advertising and for having kept her soul and her art in our land. If I had to give a general title to her work it would be: Chez Nous."

At the 1926 Salon, Marguerite Mazet presented two plasters. La Mémé, A grandmother touching the face of her little child, and our very expressive woman leaning on her cane named Lo qué s'en baï… The title is unequivocal and gives this figure the universal image of our ancestors leaving this world with a smile. Here still reigns the strength of a woman taking the last path.