A Fine Pair Of Art Deco Wall Appliques by Albert Constant Jouanneault.
French, Circa 1930.
Signed in the cast ‘A. Jouanneault’.
Each circular frosted glass applique is mounted with a fine gilt-bronze figure of a naked leaping dancer holding a floral garland.
Albert Jouanneault was born in the town of Saumur in Maine-et-Loire in June 1888. He studied drawing and modelling, then attended the École des Beaux-Arts at Angers. He also studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and in the studio of Antonin Injalbert.
He exhibited at the salon for the first time in 1909, with a sculpture entitled Printemps, which was followed by considerable success in later years with notable works such as La Courtisane, L’Enfant au Chat, and Petit Faune. In 1925 he received an honourable mention for his figure Femme à la Herrade.
After being a prisoner during the First World War, Jouanneault returned to sculpture and received numerous commissions for monuments and memorials. During the Second World War he joined the Saumur Resistance movement and was arrested during a raid in September 1943 and deported to Buchenwald where he died in 1944.
Jouanneault’s work was described by Henry Coutant director of L’Angevin de Paris as:
‘dans toutes ses œuvres, Jouanneault se montre fidèle aux pures traditions de la statuaire classique: respectueux de la forme, il sait se farder des audaces qui portent atteinte (quand elle ne la détruisent pas complètement) a la beauté de la ligne ; mais la sévérité de son dessin ne le détourne pas de la vie et les statues sorties de ses mains la traduisent dans ce qu’elle a de plus vrai et de plus noble. C’est par là que notre compatriote mérite d’être classé au premier rang des meilleurs représentants de la grande école de sculpture angevine’’.
By appointment only.
