Charles Alexandre Malfray, (French 1887 – 1940), Baigneuse allongée, a sculpted terracotta model of a reclining maiden

Charles Alexandre Malfray, (French 1887 - 1940), Baigneuse allongée, a sculpted terracotta model of a reclining maiden, portrayed as supporting her head behind with her raised right arm, inscribed MALFRAY beneath, mounted on a stepped rectangular black marble socle

22cm high, 52cm long overall

PROVENANCE:

Gifted by Malfray to a fellow artist and close friend, the grandfather of a recent vendor in 2018

CATALOGUE NOTES:

For versions of this model in bronze, cf Guillaume le Floc'h, Paris, Vente de prestige: Tableaux, sculptures, verrerie, céramique, meubles et objets dart, 6th October 2013, lot 104;

Also Thierry de Maigret, Paris, Tableaux modernes - art déco, 20th March 2013, lot 76

Malfray also produced very similar variants of this work which differed in certain details:

Cf Artcurial, Paris, Art Moderne, 3rd November 2009, lot 353

-Born the son of an Orléans stonemason Malfray was a student of the École des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans. At seventeen, he attended the School of Decorative Arts in Paris and the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. He however rejected the academic teaching of the college and became attracted by the art of the Montmartre-based Auguste Rodin and Antoine Bourdelle

Malfray survived the First World War after being gassed and taking part in the Battle of Verdun, but was deeply affected by his experiences. Together with his brother, he created war memorials to the dead of Pithiviers (1920) and Orleans (1924), whose modernism was highly debated. In 1920 he was awarded the Prix Blumenthal, but ruined by the work and ill as a result of the war, he almost gave up sculpture

However, in 1931, his friend Aristide Maillol appointed him his successor as professor at the Académie Ranson in Paris. During the following years, Malfray had many students in his workshop, including Étienne Martin, François Stahly, Nessa Cohen, and Jean Le Moal

Condition Report: The terracotta bears the minor marks, knocks and scuffs overall consistent with age. It is also quite dirty overall, and would benefit from a gentle clean.

The terracotta is coarser and slightly worn to the extremities, including an area of shallow chipping to the raised hand and the underside of the raised leg. There is a small chip to the left fingertips.

There are two fine hairline cracks, probably firing cracks, one to the underside of the raised leg by the knee, and another to the rockwork base.