Bolesław BIEGAS (1877-1954) - Lot 32

Bolesław BIEGAS (1877-1954) The Earth (Ziemia) Bronze reduction, the model designed in 1902. Unidentified founder. Signed Biegas. 20.5 x 12.5 cm Inscription in ink on reverse ("ex. um... ? / Biegas"). In a presentation frame. A notice of inclusion in the catalog raisonné being prepared by Mr. Xavier Deryng under the aegis of the Société Historique et Littéraire Polonaise de Paris (SHLP), the artist's universal legatee, will be given to the purchaser. Marcel Reja (1873-1957), who was August Strindberg's literary practitioner and one of the few defenders of Edvard Munch in France, particularly appreciated Earth, one of the great sculptures modeled by Biegas in 1902. In his contribution to the special issue of La Plume, he concluded his essay by underlining the importance of this work: "There is no opposition of two formulas, but a very coherent and powerful whole in this work La Terre, where inanimate matter, brutal, yet with a beautiful rhythm, blossoms into a living hair where the most supple and sobbing images of humanity and life are twisted, according to a hallucinating nightmare". Boleslas Biegas. Sculpteur, Paris, Éditions de La Plume, 1902, p. 23. The reduction of La Terre occupies an exceptional place among Biegas' sculptures. It is currently the only known example, possibly commissioned by Marcel Reja himself. Xavier Deryng [Poland] [Polish art] [sztuka polska]