Francois Pompon (French, 1855-1933), Dinde

Francois Pompon (French, 1855-1933)

Dinde

Patinated bronze, Signed

37cm high, 31cm wide, 27cm deep

On view at: The Sculpture Park

Born in Saulieu, Burgundy, in 1855, Pompon worked first as an apprentice to his father, a cabinet-maker, and from his teenage years as a monumental mason and stone carver, involved in the rebuilding of a damaged Paris after the Franco-Prussian war.

A sought-after assistant and stone cutter, Francois Pompon provided blocks of marble for contemporaries Auguste Rodin (even at one point becoming his head of studio) and Camille Claudel. As a sculptor, Pompons practice was first centred around the human figure. Then, around 1905, he abandoned the human form to capture animals instead, visiting the Jardin des Plantes in Paris to observe them. This shift in his career led to his first great success at the age of 67, Pompon exhibited a streamlined Ours Blanc or polar bear, which was to become his most iconic work. During the decade that followed, he received several large commissions, including a stag for the Dutch city of Arnhem, and a bull for his hometown of Saulieu. His sculptures are held by important museum collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Musee dOrsay in Paris