French Orientalist Bronze Sculpture “Arab Shoeshine” after Edouard Drouot

Description: EDOUARD DROUOT French, 1859-1945 "Decrotteur Arabe" [Arab Shoeshine Boy] Patinated and polychromed bronze | signed to the reverse "E. Drouot" in script, sealed with editeur cachet for "Bronze Garanti au Titre, Paris" and foundry mark [weight with cold-stamped lettering] Item # 908TUL11L A very fun cabinet bronze after the model by Edouard Drouot titled on the edge of the base "Décrotteur Arabe, Médaille, Beaux-Arts", it is an interesting study of a young Arab boy with a shoe polish kit hanging from his shoulder. He leans against an old tree stump with a broad grin on his face, presumably greeting pedestrians while trying to drum up some business. It is finished in a rich polychromed patina ranging from the warm hues of brown and golden hints of burnished bronze to the red-oxide chemical patination supplemented by stains and cold-painted red in his cap. The base bears the editeur cachet "Bronze Garanti au Titre, Paris" and a cold-stamped unknown foundry mark of a weight with lettering inside (perhaps "TP" or "SP"). These French Orientalist studies of the Arab and African nations found a large collecting audience in France and England. There was a fascination with what seemed like a timeless and unchanging traditionalism in these non-Western communities that piqued the nostalgia of collectors. The same sentiment that drove collectors to acquire landscape scenes of rural farms and buccolic views of domestic animals in fields gave a deep well for artists like Edouard Drouot to draw upon in preparing studies of the tribal communities of "The Orient". Much of the original material came from travel in Tunisia, which was easily accessible as a French colony and a favorite destination for painters and sculptors. We have many of these wonderful models by Marcel Debut, Jean Didier Debut, Edouard Drouot, Emile Pinedo and Louis Hiolin available, all of roughly the same size and sealed by the same editeur.ARTIST Born in Sommevoire in the Haut Marne region of France on 3rd April 1859, Edouard Drouot spent his early his career as a successful genre painter. He studied sculpture under the renowned Mathurin Moreau (French, 1822-1912) at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and Emile Thomas (French, 1817-1882), a prominent sculptor responsible for numerous state commissions while producing portraits, monuments, allegorical and mythological works in marble and bronze. In 1882 he made his debut at the Paris Salons (Salon des Artistes Français). He had varied interests and cannot really be tied to a specific style or theme in his work; this malleability an ability to tell a story in a multitude of styles was perhaps his greatest strength. From Art Deco studies of labor to mythological depictions in the Romantic taste, from trying his hand at animalier subjects to wonderfully fluid Art Nouveau studies of allegory, Drouot produced a large body of very successful work. His comfort level was clearly in sculpting the human form, though his Animalier subjects are admirable and he incorporated animals in a few of his works, perhaps most convincingly in his dramatic group of Ésclave Combattant un Tigre. These North African and Middle Eastern subjects are almost without exception passionate and wild works, exotic and full of action. He further produced a series of North American Indian subjects. It is however by his mastery of the allegorical figures that he is best known and appreciated. These are distinguished by a sense of movement and expression that is always dramatic, particularly evident in his Salon exhibit of Printemps in 1897, L’Echo with its swirling drapery or his passionate Allegory of Dusk. In 1892 he was awarded third-class medal at Salon and achieved honorable mention at the Exposition Universelle in Paris of 1900 for L'Amateur. He continued to exhibit well into the 20th century, presenting L'Eveil du Printemps in 1906 and Andromache in 1912. Edouard Drouot died in Paris in 1945. Measurements: 13 1/8" H x 4 3/8" W x 4 5/8" DCondition Report: Small casting flaw to the right of the foot; original polychromed patina with minor color variations, overall remaining in excellent condition. Cleaned, waxed and polished, in fine presentation-ready condition. About silla | antiques & art Established in 2009, our 9000 square foot brick-and-mortar gallery is home to a carefully curated and catalogued inventory of furniture, decorative arts, paintings, sculpture and estate jewelry. Our company has long specialized in sculpture circa 1860 through 1930 and as such the gallery always has a very large collection of exceptional European and American sculpture available on display. The gallery is located at 117 W Burd Street in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania and is open by appointment only. We welcome your visit and would love to meet with you. For clients located outside of the area, we are always available to discuss items by video conferencing or by phone. SHIPPING We take shipping very seriously and maintain a fully equipped in-house packing facility to professionally package these important and delicate pieces. All packaging is handled by our staff and will generally consist of: Wrapping the item in several inches of heavy-duty bubble wrap with careful attention shown to pressure points, crafting the placement of the bubble wrap in a manner that allows delicate parts of the item to remain out of harm's way.The item is then placed into a tight-fitting carton with a void fill of either peanuts, Styrofoam, bubble wrap or a combination of the three to ensure it cannot move within the cartonThat carton is then double-boxed by placing it into an outer carton 2-3" larger on all sides with a dense void fill in the gap [note, paintings are generally not double-boxed but instead have a different packing methodology to properly protect the frame from pressure]All shipments are guaranteed to arrive safely. We fully insure all shipments and in the event of damage we will handle all of the details around the claims process. You are only required to send along photos, to hold onto the damaged item and all packing materials until the claims process is resolved and we also reserve the right to require the damaged item to be shipped back to us at our expense (a prepaid label will be issued) to qualify for a refund.

Price: 1900 USD

Location: Shippensburg, Pennsylvania

End Time: 2024-03-22T11:17:51.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD