Othello - Georges Charles Coudray 1862-1944

Dimensions Total height: approx. 34.5 cm Ø Terrace: 13.5 cm Width: approx. 18 cm Signature signed on the motif: G. Coudray Material Bronze proof with chocolate patina. Base decorated with patterns.

Georges COUDRAY was born on January 31, 1862, in the home of Louis Félix COUDRAY, who came from Orne to practice his trade as a cabinetmaker in the capital, and his wife Clara Annette FOUGERON. At the age of 22 (1884), he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris at the same time as his younger brother Lucien, and entered the workshop of the Toulouse sculptor Alexandre FALGUIÈRE (Toulouse, 1831; Paris 1900). ) newly appointed professor (1882), and the Parisian sculptor, Grand Prix de Rome 1848, Gabriel-Jules THOMAS (Paris 1824 – 1905).

Like many artists of this time, he presented his works at the French Artists' Salons regularly for seven years (1883 to 1890), then much more rarely during the following decade (1892; 1893; v1899; 1902 and 1903). He was never rewarded there. Inspired by Art Nouveau, he sculpted busts and statuettes on literary, musical themes or Greek or Oriental mythology. We owe him a Claudine, in reference to the heroine of Colette, a Princess Maline or Mélisande, a Tahoser, heroine of the Roman de la Mummy by Théophile Gauthier, presented at the Salon of 1892, a Judith, exhibited (in plaster) at the salon of 1888, but also an Arab with a Scimitar, a Semiramis, a Hérodiade, a Genius of Industry... Always in the Art Nouveau style that he loved, he produced vases, planters, pitchers and other decorative objects in various materials. Combining the literary theme and the orientalist inspiration, in vogue at the end of the 19th century, he sculpted an Othello that many painters had already illustrated, but that few sculptors had carved. Othello is the terrible and dramatic hero of the homonymous play by William SHAKESPEARE performed for the first time in 1604, but completed the previous year, itself influenced by a novel, published in 1565 by the Italian CINTHIO, The More of Venice. This story, as dramatic as it could be, did not fail to inspire musicians, notably the two biggest names in opera. The Italian Gioachino ROSSINI presented this dark story of jealousy and revenge in Naples for the first time on December 4, 1816. Some fifty years later, on February 5, 1887, his great rival Giuseppe VERDI, gave his own version, in the sublime setting of La Scala in Milan. The Moor of Venice was known to the French. Rossini's opera had been performed on the Parisian stage since 1821. Rossini's was premiered at the Palais Garnier on October 12, 1894, in the presence of the composer.

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