The work evokes the four phases of the life cycle: childhood, youth, maturity and old age. From the front, it represents a naked young girl with her arms raised and her hands lifting her opulent hair. The right profile, under the hair, reveals the face of the maturity of life. From the back, the hai...
The work evokes the four phases of the life cycle: childhood, youth, maturity and old age. From the front, it represents a naked young girl with her arms raised and her hands lifting her opulent hair. The right profile, under the hair, reveals the face of the maturity of life. From the back, the hair becomes a drape, covering the body of a woman nursing her child. The left profile shows an aging face. This bronze was cast in the Brotal Mendrisio Foundry in Switzerland in 1974.
Edouard-Marcel Sandoz was a Swiss painter, ceramist and sculptor, born in 1881 in Basel and died in 1971 in Lausanne. Heir, with his brother the writer Maurice Y. Sandoz, of the Swiss chemical and pharmaceutical firm Sandoz, he decided to devote himself to art and studied first at the École des Arts Industriels in Geneva, then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he settled. He participated in exhibitions in Lausanne, Paris, Brussels and Barcelona in the early 20th century. Sandoz created numerous decorative objects for everyday use: boxes, bottles, carafes, tea and coffee sets, small sculptures in bronze porcelain or ceramics in the Art Nouveau style. He is particularly interested in animal sculpture, and has created many realistic sculptures of fennecs and rabbits. A recognized animal artist, he is an active member of the French Society of Animalists. He also creates sculptures that adorn public spaces in Switzerland and in France, mixing human and animal representations. His talents have earned him membership in the Académie des Beaux-Arts and the rank of Commandeur in the Ordre de la Légion d'Honneur et des Arts et Lettres. Edouard-Marcel Sandoz was invited to the Principality by Prince Albert I, where he produced an important series of drawings and watercolors of fish for the Oceanographic Institute of Monaco.
