Charles Despiau

The French sculptor Charles Despiau is known primarily as a portraitist; his work also includes nudes and public commissions, among them Apollon, commissioned in 1937 for the Palais de Tokyo. Jacques de Caso describes a sculpture of the human figure marked by simple expression and restrained formalism, in which the volumes are sketched rather than indicated. In his view, Despiau seeks to convey the inner life of his models, notably in Ève (1925).

He arrived in Paris in 1891 on a scholarship from the département of Landes. He first studied at the Arts décoratifs under Hector Lemaire, then at the Beaux-Arts in the studio of Louis-Ernest Barrias, where he learned direct carving in stone. He made his Salon debut in 1898, was admitted to the Société nationale des beaux-arts in 1901 and became a member in 1904. In 1907, after seeing Paulette, Auguste Rodin invited him to work with him; Despiau became his studio assistant until his mobilisation in 1914. The marble bust of Paulette was shown at the Salon in 1910 and then acquired by the State for the museum in Mont-de-Marsan.

The Monument aux morts of Mont-de-Marsan, made between 1918 and 1922 and initially executed in stone, has been held at the Musée Despiau-Wlérick since 1981; a cement-stone copy now occupies its original site. A co-founding member of the Salon des Tuileries in 1923, Despiau taught at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and, from 1927, at the Académie scandinave de Montparnasse. That same year, the Brummer Gallery in New York organised a solo exhibition of his work at the initiative of the Barbazanges Gallery.

The female nude became part of his work in the 1920s with Ève and L’Adolescente. From 1932, Assia Granatouroff posed for him. At the 1937 Paris International Exposition, he sat on the works selection committee and presented fifty-two sculptures in a room of the Petit Palais dedicated to him.

Works recorded at auction

Kornfeld · Lot 900

Nude seen from behind

Pencil drawing

Original catalogue wording

Nu de dos
Pencil drawing

Catalogue period : 2023-06-02

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

Estimate : CHF 1000

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Dobiaschofsky · Lot 1378

Femme allongée.

Red chalk

Original catalogue wording

Femme allongée.
Rötel

Catalogue period : 2020-11-05

Published result : 470 CHF

Fees not specified in the available data

Estimate : CHF 700

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Germann

Nu accroupie

Red chalk drawing.

Original catalogue wording

Nu accroupie
Rötel-Zeichnung.

Date to be documented

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

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References excluded from statistics: attributions and special lots

These references are shown separately because of their attribution or lot composition. Each record states the reason.

Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer · Lot 48

Female nudes

Lot of 3 drawings

Original catalogue wording

Frauenakte
Lot von 3 Zeichnungen
lot groupé : prix global

Catalogue period : 2019-06-19

Grouped lot: total price

Published result : 1215 CHF

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : CHF 1000–1500

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Germann

2 Zeichnungen: Femme allongée; Femme debout

Farbstift-Zeichnung; Rötel-Zeichnung.

Original catalogue wording

2 Zeichnungen: Femme allongée; Femme debout
Farbstift-Zeichnung; Rötel-Zeichnung.
Lot groupé — prix global

Date to be documented

Group lot — total price

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

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