Robert Massart (1892-1955) - "woman's Torso"

Belgian School. Direct carving on reconstituted stone. Signed "R. Massart" on the rear terrace. Circa 1915/1920. Dimensions: Height: 84 cm, Width: 40 cm, Depth: 30 cm. The sculpture of Robert Massart… “these are happy and full forms, volumes that are arranged in grandeur, harmonious contours, round masses that spring from the inside out and fill the air, take their place, satisfy a need for balance, for a quiet and robust beauty that cannot be defined otherwise, but which soothes and delights.”… Excerpt: Robert Massart by Jules Bosmant. Bibliography: – Work reproduced in the book by Jules Bosmant, “Robert Massart, Monographs of Belgian Art.” Plate 17 – Work referenced under Inventory No. 4598 – Belgian Ministry of Culture – Fine Arts Administration – Brussels. Biography: Born on December 11, 1892 in Trooz (Belgium) and died in Paris on May 13, 1955. Belgian sculptor. Student of Joseph Rulot at the Academy of Fine Arts in Liège. First Prize in 1915. During the First World War, he rented a small studio in Verviers (Belgium). He began by painting landscapes of the Vesdre Valley but very quickly decided to devote himself primarily to sculpture. He worked mainly with stone, artificial stone, cement, and plaster. His first exhibition was in 1922. In 1923, he exhibited a woman's torso at the Triennel exhibition in Antwerp. In 1925, following a special invitation, he exhibited 14 large-scale works in one of the main halls of the Palais des Beaux-Arts during the Salon de Mai organized by the city of Liège. In 1926, he held an exhibition in the art gallery of the newspaper La Meuse. That same year, he received a commission from the municipality of Sougné-Remouchanps for a war memorial, his first monumental work, carved from a 9-cubic-meter block of the finest granite. Ignoring the usual allegorical representations, he depicted a scantily clad woman seated beside a fallen soldier. The work caused a scandal; the local population disapproved, finding the female figure too unclothed. Faced with such a poor reception, in 1927 he went into permanent exile and joined the painter and engraver Luc Lafnet in Paris. There he met his wife, Suzanne Pappas. He nevertheless maintained good relations with Liège, where most of his monumental works can be found. For example, for the 1939 Water Exhibition, he was commissioned to create a mural for the northern section of the wall at the tip of Île Monsin, depicting an Antwerp dockworker next to an intaglio relief representing the city of Antwerp. After the Second World War, he illustrated "telecommunications in the service of Science and Leisure and telecommunications in the service of Commerce and Industry." In 1953, he lost his wife. His health declined, and in 1954 he began decorating the new Liège Public Assistance building with three bas-reliefs symbolizing hospital, preventative, and charitable activities. He died in May 1955 following surgery before he could see them installed on the building. In 1957, a retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Liège Museum of Fine Arts, Galerie Paris Manaus.