"And to feel that the light is a rabbit-light
In which everything is meant for you
And nothing need be explained;"
- excerpt from "A Rabbit as King of the Ghosts" by Wallace Stevens
To
make a bronze rabbit look alive, to achieve what Wallace Stevens called "rabbit-light+, and, further, to make a cocked ear that looks as
though it will twitch at any moment, takes the combined talents of a polymath,
someone who knows the properties of the materials, the ways of animals, and a
deep spatial sense. Someone like
Edoaurd-Marcel Sandoz. The same master
of verisimilitude who could carve a falcon on a branch, out of a branch, could
also make porcelain appear to be origami paper birds (saliere en forme de
cocotte en papier), a winsome feat
trompe-l'oieil.
After a period in
Rome, Sandoz studied at the School of Industrial Arts in Geneva from 1900-03. Then
he enrolled at l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in
Paris for two years of training with sculptors Antonin Mercie (1845-1916), Antoine
Injalbert (1845-1933), and the painter Fernand Cormon (1854-1924). Sandoz was most influenced by a sculptor he apparently never worked with, Francois
Pompon (1855-1933). Pompon had worked as an assistant to Auguste Rodin. His L’Ours
Blanc (1922), some translated as The
Polar Bear in Stride, is one of the most loved works at the Musee d’Orsay .
It was a shortage of bronze and stone for sculpture during World War I that led Sandoz to begin working with porcelain and to his association with the
Haviland Limoges firm from
1915-1952. His porcelain boxes, bottles, carafes, tea and coffee
services were among its most sought after items. Sandoz worked
with other materials, such
as marble, bronze when he turned to
sculpture. Stylistically, Sandoz easily embraced the transition from Art Nouveau to Art Deco. Even today, these styles may seem peculiarly foreign, even though Rockefeller Center is the center of a mythic Art Deco Manhattan, but Sandoz would surely be better known in North America if his work could travel, no small undertaking for sculptures.
That deep spatial sense I mentioned enabled Sandoz to create
his masterpiece,
The Crossroads of
Life (1967), that stands in the garden of
the Musee Oceanograhpique in
Monaco. The four-sided figure
represents the stages in the life of a woman:
infancy, youth, maturity, age. Viewed
from the front, she is a nubile young
woman, in the curvilinear Art Nouveau style.
On the back of the statue, her hair becomes a drape, she is covered with
a robe and it is the child who is naked.
The right profile, under a veil of
hair, is the face of a mature woman.
The left profile shows the face of an old woman.
In recognition of his many and various achievements, Sandoz
was made a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor and also a Chevalier of the
Order of Arts and Letters.
He died in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1971.
For more, visit Fondation Sandoz.
Images:
1. Edouard-Marcel Sandoz - Lapin a l'oreille dressee (Rabbit with a cocked ear), La Piscine, Roubai.
2. Edouard-Marcel Sandoz - Falcon on a Branch, Fondation Sandoz, Basel.
3. Edouard-Marcel Sandoz - Owl, private collection, France.
4. Edouard-Marcel Sandoz - Saliere en forme de cocotte, La Piscine, Roubaix.
5. unidentified photographer - Sandoz in his studio.
