André Tajana (attributed To), Saint Alban (1938)

André Tajana (Saint-Chamond 1913 – Vichy 1999)
Saint Alban
1938
Bronze
H. 48

André Tajana, born in Saint-Chamond, the son of a stonemason, first studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Saint-Étienne from 1927 to 1930, then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon from 1931 to 1935. A highly talented sculptor, he left his mark on Lyon and the Loire region with his monumental works. He was also sought after as a portraitist, creating portraits of political figures such as Édouard Herriot, Louis Pradel, and François Mitterrand.

This head of a Roman warrior is likely the “Alban,” created by Tajana in 1938. That year, Tajana won the Lyon-Paris Prize for his work titled “Alban.” Alban, or Saint Alban, was a Roman soldier stationed at Verulamium (now St. Albans) in England before his conversion to Christianity and his martyrdom. The soldier’s face, of great beauty, conveys a certain fragility. The choice of Alban as a subject allowed Tajana to explore the theme of the ancient warrior’s head, evoking divine and heroic figures such as Ares and Achilles, with a sensibility that is both spiritual and mysterious. Although this bronze is unsigned, the irregularly sculpted almond-shaped eyes serve as a sort of signature characteristic of Tajana’s works. The identification of the subject as Alban leaves little doubt as to the creator of this striking work. The quality of the bronze - heavy and solid - is remarkable, at once refined (the ornamentation on the helmet, the bas-relief of the big cats) yet also raw; on the inside, all the nails are still visible, and some of the casting holes have never been filled.