Studio Plaster By Jean Carriés

Grotesque mask

Circa 1890-1893

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Technique

Original studio plaster

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Dimensions

Height: 19.5 cm (approx)

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Description

High-relief mask depicting a grotesque male head with a sneering expression. The face is structured by a powerful nose, deeply set half-closed eyes and a half-open mouth. The hair and beard are treated in thick, nervous strands, in a highly expressive modeling that reveals tool marks.

A circular headband encircles the forehead, a recurring iconographic element in certain masks and figures by Jean Carriès.

The surface shows the characteristics of an antique plaster: wear, small irregularities and alterations compatible with a work from the late XIXᵉ century.

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Stylistic analysis

The present mask is fully in line with the research carried out by Jean Carriès around the grotesque, the autonomous mask and the expressive deformation of the human face during the last years of his career.

The treatment of the modelling, deliberately jagged and synthetic, as well as the expressive tension of the face, present direct correspondences with several enamelled stoneware masks preserved in French public collections, notably at the Petit Palais - Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris.

The most significant similarities concern:

• the compact morphology of the face;
• the treatment of the nose and superciliary arches;
• the half-open mouth with its ambiguous rictus;
• the mineral rendering of the beard and locks;
• the presence of a forehead band.

Taken together, these elements form a stylistic cluster particularly consistent with the work of Jean Carriès.

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Technical analysis

The spontaneous nature of the modeling, the scale of the work and the use of plaster allow the piece to be identified as a probable :

• working plaster;
• preparatory model;
• or workshop variant intended for transposition to another material (stoneware or bronze).

The absence of a signature is not a contradictory element, as many of Carriès's studio models remained unsigned.

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Conclusion

With regard to:

• the stylistic characteristics observed;
• the precise correspondences with documented works by Jean Carriès;
• technical and material elements;

the present plaster can be attributed to:

Jean Carriès (1855-1894)

with a high degree of probability.

Proposed date: circa 1890-1893.