Summer Olympic Games, Paris 1924/Polo/Mascaux/Medal... - Lot 262 - Vermot et Associés

Lot 262
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Estimation :
5000 - 8000 EUR
Summer Olympic Games, Paris 1924/Polo/Mascaux/Medal... - Lot 262 - Vermot et Associés
Summer Olympic Games, Paris 1924/Polo/Mascaux/Medal /Exceptional giant bronze medal by Claude-Léon MASCAUX (1882-1965). This work celebrating officially the polo in the Games of Paris, those of the VIIIth Olympiad, is incriminated in an astonishing artistic contribution to the Olympic Arts Competitions created by the baron de Coubertin (1st edition in 1912). Indeed, if this sculptor is awarded in the test of sculpture, where he obtains the bronze medal (3rd ex-aequo with the Dane Gauguin) for a brilliant series of 7 medals associating the disciplines of the official program of the Games to the genius of certain insects or animals (the hare with the foot race, the swimming with the fish, the monkey with the gymnastics, etc), he dedicates here, this creation to the polo, present since the Games of 1900, and however always a little marginal. This medal is moreover represented in the official report, with the portrait of the artist then aged 42 years. Of pure art deco style, this polo player on his prancing horse, represented in profile on the right, is a vibrant tribute to a discipline perhaps complex, but essential. Pride of place of the United Kingdom medallist at the time of the five presences of the polo in the Games (1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, 1936), the polo also mobilized teams of the United States, France, Germany, Argentina, Spain and Mexico. So much so that this work is the ambassador of these Five Games and Six Nations. A piece of 15.4 cm in diameter, and 316.4 grams!... Well hung or on top of a beautiful table, it finds all the life that the sculptor gave it. This authentic museum piece could well be the seventh medal, which along with the six distinguished at the Games, earned Claude-Léon Mascaux a prize at the Grand Prix of the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in 1929. Rarer than a medal of Olympic champions, this work seems to be known only in two specimens, the first preserved in the Department of Coins and Medals of the Library of France, the second that you have in front of you. Signature at mid-height, left side. Small precision, the competition of Olympic sculpture had mobilized 67 artists of 14 nations. Piece never seen on sale. Piece of Museum or high collection.
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