Karl Jean Longuet C1940 Portrait Of Karl Marx By His Great Grandson

Karl Jean LONGUET (1904-1981) Portrait of Karl Marx by his great-grandson c1940

Grand Prize in Sculpture at the Paris Biennale.

Head of an elderly Karl Marx, original sculpture and unique copy in patinated plaster c1940 on a wooden base.

Worked in large masses, this work recalls the work of Rodin. By its angle of representation, this bust is intended to be seen from below and raised in relation to the viewer's gaze. The Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute in Moscow, after acquiring a mask dated 1931, commissioned the artist in 1936 for a similar bust in bronze. He would later rework his model: stylized hair and beard and a peaceful face characterize this more synthetic version. This head resembles another by the artist seen in a photograph in his studio dated around 1948, and can be compared to a smaller plaster sculpture by Jean Karl Longuet presented at the exhibition on the artist at the Musée de Reims in 2023, also shown in our photos.

Our sculpture is in a similar sculptural style which is rare in his work. This sculpted portrait presents his great-grandfather in simplified lines, which attests to Longuet's innovative aesthetic research. His deep and penetrating gaze, the compactness of the volumes of the face, and the stylized hair and beard make it a very powerful evocation of the personality and profound thought of a great intellectual Karl Marx. The sculptures by Longuet can be found in large numbers in the French National Museum of Modern Art, the Paris Museum of Modern art and Georges Pompidou Center Beaubourg Museum.

Head Dimensions       H 46 cm  L  37 cm  P  26 cm     H  18"  W  14.5"  D  10"
Base Dimensions       H 17 cm  L  17 cm  P  17 cm     H  7"    W  7"      D  7"
Overall Height            H 63 cm                                     H  25"

Price:  12 000 €