Marguerite Mazet (1881-1947) Lou Bres - Le Berceau Sculpture Dordogne Lot Périgord

Marguerite MAZET
(Duravel 1881 - 1947)
Lou Bres - Le Berceau
Plâtre
H. 33 cm; L. 45 cm
Signed and dated 1928 on the base

Provenance: Private collection, Périgord

Exhibition: Salon of 1928 (molding)

Bibliography: Marguerite Mazet, sculptor, Fanlac, 1974, reproduced pp 18-19.

Born on the borders of Lot, Lot-et-Garonne and Périgord, Marguerite Cassaignes, daughter of the doctor of the same name, grew up among the rows of vines of the family house of Gineste. Until her marriage she will stay on her land in Lot without learning sculpture which will then become her main activity. It is thanks to her husband, Pierre Mazet that she will meet Périgord since he was from the charming fortified town of Domme, annuitant and elected to various local functions. Lover of Périgord, this man transmitted to his wife the passion for this country and for the dialect of which many of Marguerite Mazet's sculpted works will be baptized. Ruined as a result of the Great War and Russian loans, the family will be forced to raise funds to support the family. It was at this time that Marguerite Mazet devoted herself to statuary without having received lessons of any kind. However, success is certain and the artist will even exhibit his works at the Paris Salon in 1923, without leaving his Domoise city ... With time and recognition, his work was recognized by the press and by his peers, being the reflection of the Périgord of yesteryear, which the war of 1939 will take away for good. Mazet's works are therefore the memory of these traditions and costumes that have disappeared, witnesses of a difficult life, but full of simplicity. One of the artist's last “projects” was the creation of a set of pieces for the crib. Orders followed and his casts were found everywhere in France, and in the world (USA, England, Africa, Korea, etc.). Today the vast majority of the saints and kings of Mazet are relegated to the attics of the sacristies, forgotten by all. The first works were produced under the pseudonym "Hope". We can only read there the translation of the word "Hope" or "Hope", completely consistent with the beginnings of the artist and the reason for which she devoted herself to the modeling of the earth. A newspaper clipping, without a name and without a date, perfectly reflects the work and the spirit of Marguerite Mazet: “May she be blessed not to have been caught up in the mirages of Parisian advertising and to have kept his soul and his art to our land. If I had to give a general title to his work it would be: Chez Nous.

This large plaster, a version of which was presented at the 1928 Salon, reflects all the family ties of a Périgord house. You have to imagine the parents of the child working in the fields, and during this time, the grandmother takes care of the infant in the corner of the hearth.

The Dommois Jean Durand wrote a poem in reference to this work, transcribed here.
Then I leaned the grandmother over the cradle.
In this child she feels herself living again
Her blood really flows in this frail little heart
Where her existence is prolonged.
What a look of ecstatic love overflowing !
She wants to make laugh herself laughing
This child who babbles and barely stammers
And she also thinks of the invisible chain
Which unites her ancestors to those who were born to her
Will perpetuate her race and be perpetuated.