Antilope
Brown patinated bronze proof, showing an antelope on a rectangular bronze base.
Signed on the base: “ALFRED JANNIOT”
Circa: 1929-30. Bears the mark of the founder: Fonderie des Artistes / Paris.
Note:
A model of this “Antelope” was created by Alfred Janniot during the preparation of the low relief of the Museum of the Colonies. The “Antelope” quickly became an emblem of Art Déco, especially appreciated by the decorators such as Michel Roux-Spitz or Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann (who presented it in some of his interiors and who also had it for himself in his secondary house nicknamed “Aux rendez-vous des pêcheurs de truites”). Moreover, concerning this model, another cast was created for the Jean-Jaurès school in the town of the Bouscat not far from Bordeaux (where it remains), from an order of the mayor of the time, M. Cayrel.
Dimensions (with the base):
Height: 39 ¾ in. Width: 29 in. Depth: 9 in.
Provenance :
This proof was sold by Janniot during his lifetime and stayed with the family until today.
Certificate:
From Galerie Michel Giraud, according to the artist’s legal successor, Mrs Anne Demeurisse.
Remarks:
Grand Prix de Rome in 1919, Alfred Auguste Janniot imposes himself with mastery and brilliance in the friezes and bas-reliefs of the great walls of Paris and the provinces, those of the buildings of the reconstruction or designed for the great international exhibitions. He asserted himself as the master of bas-relief at the Colonial Exhibition of 1931 with the creation of the sculpted façade of the Musée des Colonies evoking Africa and Asia. In 1937, the International Exhibition of Arts and Techniques honored him once again with the immense works of the new Palais de Chaillot and the Palais de Tokyo. As an ambassador for French sculpture, he was commissioned to decorate the Rockefeller Center in New York, where the magnificent gilded bronze door of the Maison de la France opens onto Fifth Avenue.
Bibliography:
Alfred Janniot, propos mythologiques et modernes, Galerie Michel Giraud, Paris, GMG éditions & la Librairie du Passage, 2006, p. 49 (one of the 4 proofs illustrated)
Alfred Auguste Janniot, sous la direction d’Anne Demeurisse, Paris, Somogy éditions d’art, 2003, similar proof in bronze illustrated p.98.
