l'Ours
1920 - 1922
François Pompon
François Pompon’s polar bear has been depicted with a minimum of detail. The artist reduced the forms to their essence and polished the surfaces. His aim was not to create the most realistic representation of the animal, for his work is emphatically stylized. That makes this animalier, or animal sculptor, highly innovative.
Details
- Plan number: V01
- Zone: Entanglement
- Title: l'Ours (The polar bear, The bear)
- Creator: François Pompon
- Date: 1920 - 1922
- Material: limestone, natural stone, concrete
- Acquisition: purchase, 1954
- Object number: MID.B.065
Every intervention in the natural white stone helped determine the character of this sculpture. It is cool but cuddly. Relaxed but curious.
This sculpture is an absolute crowd pleaser at Middelheim Museum. All manner of human characteristics, such as kindness or dignity, are projected onto the animal. The polar bear represents a contemporary worldview in which humans put themselves at the center: it portrays both a wild animal and humankind.
French sculptor François Pompon started his career as an assistant to Auguste Rodin. The animal sculptor Pierre-Louis Rouillard was his great example. Pompon sculpted the same subjects, and successfully. The polar bear was his breakthrough in 1920. Pompon was then 67.
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