Lot 373 D

Bronze. Height 34 cm (incl. plinth). On reverse edge of cast-with plinth signed 'max ernst' and numbered as well as with the rhombic foundry mark "CIRE VALSUANI PERDU". Exemplar 149/175. Apart from the edition of 175 casts, there are 15 épreuves d'artiste and a few épreuves d'essai. - Green patina. - With slight superficial rubbing. The sculpture was cast after a plaster model conceived by Valsuani in 1964 as "cire perdue" in lost-wax casting technique and was made with different-coloured patinations.

We would like to thank Jürgen Pech, Brühl, for his kind information.

Provenance
Private collection, Rhineland

Literature
Werner Spies, Max Ernst Skulpturen, Häuser, Landschaften. exhib. cat. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf 1998, p. 183 with illus.; Jürgen Pech: Lieber Bibi, in: Max Ernst - Plastische Werke, Köln 2005, p. 2006, with colour illus. p. 2007

"With 'Chéri Bibi' (Dear Bibi) Max Ernst returned to the flat panel format that had been a recurring feature of his sculptural work since the 1930s. (…) The title 'Chéri Bibi' goes back to the protagonist of a series of novels begun in 1911 by Gaston Leroux, author of 'The Phantom of the Opera'. Chéri Bibi, the central figure of the series, is a good-natured hulk who repeatedly escapes from jail. (…) Max Ernst's sculpture unites the exciting contrast of the literary model, the precarious situation and the yet self-confident attitude of the fictitious character." (Jürgen Pech: Lieber Bibi, in: Max Ernst - Plastische Werke, Cologne 2005, p. 206)