Grace Kelly Plaster Bust, Louis Botinelly, Marseille, Art Deco, 1957 Circa. H Cm50

Grace Kelly Plaster Bust, Louis Botinelly, Marseille, Art Deco, 1957

Dimensions: height 50 cm, width 38 cm, depth 20 cm.

Patinated plaster bust depicting Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, created by Louis Botinelly around 1957, shortly after her marriage to Prince Rainier III. The work comes from the dispersal of the sculptor’s studio and is documented in the catalogue raisonné by Laurent Noet, Louis Botinelly, sculpteur provençal, Mare & Martin, 2006, p. 232.
Louis Botinelly (Digne, 1883 – Marseille, 1962) was a French sculptor closely associated with the city of Marseille. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Marseille and later in Paris in the studio of Jules Coutan. His work stands between academic tradition and the Art Deco taste of the interwar and postwar periods.
The city of Marseille commissioned him for numerous public and monumental works. Among the best known are the large allegorical figures of the Colonies of Africa and the Colonies of Asia for the monumental staircase of the Gare Saint-Charles, executed around 1925-1927.
The bust retains the lively appearance of a studio model, with visible working marks and minor chips consistent with the nature of plaster. A marble version of this subject is mentioned in the catalogue as currently untraced.