Sandblasted Molded Glass Sparrow By Jean And Joël Martel Art Deco

Partially sandblasted molded glass sculpture representing a pretty sparrow admirably stylized art deco by the Martel brothers*
Authentic model around 1924-1930, signed J Martel France on the side.
note two small chips: one on the right leg and on the lower edge as visible in the last photo and very small chi on the right corner.
bibliography: Opalescence the molded glass of the years 1920-1930 figure 71.
Listed page 177 N°37 of the catalog raisonné. delivery by colissimo recommended with insurance and delivered against signature for:
France 20 €
Europe 45 €
Rest of the world 70 €
*Jean and Joël MARTEL are two French sculptors who had the particularity of exercising their activity together. Born on March 5, 1896 in Nantes - Died respectively on March 16 in Lille and September 25, 1966 in Paris, the two twin brothers did their primary studies in Nantes and went regularly during school holidays in Vendée to Saint-Jean-de- Monts, and near Challans, where their mother is from. After the death of their mother in 1906, the family moved to Paris. The brothers enter the Lycée Carnot where they will do all their secondary studies. With the desire to become sculptors, they then joined the studio of the sculptor Pierre Vigoureux then in 1912, they were admitted to the National School of Decorative Arts where they continued their apprenticeship. The war would be their first separation. Jan was mobilized in 1915 and went to the front when Joël was discharged. They worked with architects for the Exhibition of Industrial and Modern Decorative Arts in Paris in 1925 and for the International Exhibition of Arts and Techniques in Paris in 1937, but also collaborate with Jean Burkhalter (also a painter) and Robert Mallet-Stevens, in particular for the construction of their private mansion in Paris. In 1935, they contributed to the creation of the magazine L'Art Sacré. They were made Knights of the Legion of Honor in 1936 and Commanders of Cultural and Artistic Merit. The Martels place themselves between the naturalist representation closest to the anatomy of the model and the cubist representation. They fit in with Art Deco through the simplification of volumes and the preference given to smooth volumes. The preparatory drawings for the animal sculptures are based on the organization of straight lines and circular arcs drawn with a compass, the rule of the golden ratio. This report defining the ideal proportions is the answer to the research of Martel on the proportions. It will be at the heart of all their work. Attention to material and color is another characteristic that gives the Martel brothers their rightful place among modernist artists. Parisian artists, they spent long periods of time in Vendée, at their property in Mollin (between Challans and La Garnache ), or in Saint-Jean-de-Monts, a town in which you can see their last monumental work: Les Oiseaux de mer. Charcot's disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and Jean following a road accident, in the car of his friend the architect Jean Bossu, back from Lille where he was planning a monument.