Max Le Verrier (1891 – 1973) - Mortar and pestle - Mortar Chinon - Gilded bronze
Superb mortar and pestle in gilded bronze representing the Chinon Well made by the famous French sculptor Max Le Verrier (1891 – 1973) .
Hexagonal in shape, with different decorations on a background of crests, corners decorated with ram's and lion's heads.
2 Signature variants.
In very good condition with some signs of age-related wear.
Signed M. Le Verrier and presents the BRONZE brand.
Height: 5cm
Width: 8 cm
Weight: 435g
Pestle length: 9. 5cm
Drumstick weight: 38g
The photos are part of the description.
Louis Octave Maxime Le Verrier was born in Neuilly sur Seine to a Belgian mother and a Parisian father, a goldsmith and jeweler. He served in the French army during the First World War before studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva where he met the artists and fellow students Pierre Le Faguays and Marcel Bouraine; the three artists became lifelong friends. In 1919, Max Le Verrier opened his own foundry, producing sculptures and decorative objects, lamps, bookends and car mascots.
Attracted by his love of animals to zoos and circuses, he sculpted his first sculpture, the famous pelican in a style typical of the 1925s. He signed the work with his pseudonym Artus. During this period Max Le Verrier created many animal models, for example panthers like Baghera, Uganda and Jungle, an impressive lion, storks, squirrels and horses most of which executed in metal art preferably bronze.
It was in front of the cages of the Jardin des Plantes that Max le Verrier created his work umbrella monkey, a three-year-old chimpanzee with the pretty name Boubou. A great friendship was born between the monkey and the artist.
Boubou, held by the zoo keeper outside the cage, agreed to pose in exchange for bananas. Besides, every morning, he looked towards the entrance to wait for the one who was going to immortalize him.
The sculpture Pluie received a medal at the Salon des Humoristes in 1927.
The Verrier workshop has worked for the following sculptors:
Pierre Le Faguays, pseudonym Fayral, Marcel Bouraine, pseudonym Derenne & Briand, Raymonde Guerbe, Jules Masson, Charles, Janle, Denis, De Marco and Garcia. These pieces were sold in the workshop at 100 rue du Théâtre in Paris.
Max Le Verrier was a Full Member of the Society of Decorative Artists and exhibited there regularly. He had a stand at the 1925 Exposition des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels de Paris at the Grand Palais, where his stand received a gold medal. His stand at the 1937 Paris International Exhibition was awarded a medal of honor.
In 1928, Max Le Verrier sculpted from a live model his famous Clarté lamp which represents a naked woman on tiptoe, a luminous globe in outstretched hands, the centerpiece of his collection.
In fact, he needed 3 different models: one for the head, another for the chest and one for the legs. For this last part, he asks a dancer from Joséphine Baker's ballets to pose.
This model exists in 4 sizes, Luminous Glow, Lumina, Clarity, Life-size Clarity.
The majority of Le Verrier's figurines are young girls with similar idealized athleticism.
The Clarté lamp was presented in the Lumières exhibition at the Center Georges Pompidou from May to August 1985 but also in 1987 in the Made in France exhibition at Harrod's in London and in the De main de maître exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris. It was also exhibited at the Martinez Hotel in Cannes in 2000.
Max Le Verrier worked throughout the 1930s. He was arrested in 1944 for his work in the French Resistance, but after the war he continued to sculpt until his death in 1973.
The works of Maxime Le Verrier have a very personal style and demonstrate a subtle vision.
The artist also endeavored to adapt his art to a practical decorative purpose and he created some pretty specimens of lamps and other objects, reproductions of which we give here. He rightly believes that modern art should not remain the prerogative of a privileged few, but that it must be made accessible to the greatest number and spread to everything that is useful to life. This conception is extremely correct; in his research into stylization, the artist was able to put them into practice with great joy.
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Superb mortar and pestle in gilded bronze representing the Chinon Well made by the famous French sculptor Max Le Verrier (1891 – 1973) .
Hexagonal in shape, with different decorations on a background of crests, corners decorated with ram's and lion's heads.
2 Signature variants.
In very good condition with some signs of age-related wear.
Signed M. Le Verrier and presents the BRONZE brand.
Height: 5cm
Width: 8 cm
Weight: 435g
Pestle length: 9. 5cm
Drumstick weight: 38g
The photos are part of the description.
Louis Octave Maxime Le Verrier was born in Neuilly sur Seine to a Belgian mother and a Parisian father, a goldsmith and jeweler. He served in the French army during the First World War before studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva where he met the artists and fellow students Pierre Le Faguays and Marcel Bouraine; the three artists became lifelong friends. In 1919, Max Le Verrier opened his own foundry, producing sculptures and decorative objects, lamps, bookends and car mascots.
Attracted by his love of animals to zoos and circuses, he sculpted his first sculpture, the famous pelican in a style typical of the 1925s. He signed the work with his pseudonym Artus. During this period Max Le Verrier created many animal models, for example panthers like Baghera, Uganda and Jungle, an impressive lion, storks, squirrels and horses most of which executed in metal art preferably bronze.
It was in front of the cages of the Jardin des Plantes that Max le Verrier created his work umbrella monkey, a three-year-old chimpanzee with the pretty name Boubou. A great friendship was born between the monkey and the artist.
Boubou, held by the zoo keeper outside the cage, agreed to pose in exchange for bananas. Besides, every morning, he looked towards the entrance to wait for the one who was going to immortalize him.
The sculpture Pluie received a medal at the Salon des Humoristes in 1927.
The Verrier workshop has worked for the following sculptors:
Pierre Le Faguays, pseudonym Fayral, Marcel Bouraine, pseudonym Derenne & Briand, Raymonde Guerbe, Jules Masson, Charles, Janle, Denis, De Marco and Garcia. These pieces were sold in the workshop at 100 rue du Théâtre in Paris.
Max Le Verrier was a Full Member of the Society of Decorative Artists and exhibited there regularly. He had a stand at the 1925 Exposition des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels de Paris at the Grand Palais, where his stand received a gold medal. His stand at the 1937 Paris International Exhibition was awarded a medal of honor.
In 1928, Max Le Verrier sculpted from a live model his famous Clarté lamp which represents a naked woman on tiptoe, a luminous globe in outstretched hands, the centerpiece of his collection.
In fact, he needed 3 different models: one for the head, another for the chest and one for the legs. For this last part, he asks a dancer from Joséphine Baker's ballets to pose.
This model exists in 4 sizes, Luminous Glow, Lumina, Clarity, Life-size Clarity.
The majority of Le Verrier's figurines are young girls with similar idealized athleticism.
The Clarté lamp was presented in the Lumières exhibition at the Center Georges Pompidou from May to August 1985 but also in 1987 in the Made in France exhibition at Harrod's in London and in the De main de maître exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris. It was also exhibited at the Martinez Hotel in Cannes in 2000.
Max Le Verrier worked throughout the 1930s. He was arrested in 1944 for his work in the French Resistance, but after the war he continued to sculpt until his death in 1973.
The works of Maxime Le Verrier have a very personal style and demonstrate a subtle vision.
The artist also endeavored to adapt his art to a practical decorative purpose and he created some pretty specimens of lamps and other objects, reproductions of which we give here. He rightly believes that modern art should not remain the prerogative of a privileged few, but that it must be made accessible to the greatest number and spread to everything that is useful to life. This conception is extremely correct; in his research into stylization, the artist was able to put them into practice with great joy.
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