A fine Art Deco cold painted bronze figure of a polo player stood in deep contemplation dressed in period attire with fine colour and detail, raised on a marble base and signed F.Iffland
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Height: 29 cm
Condition: Excellent Original Condition
Circa: 1930
Materials: Cold Painted Bronze & Onyx
SKU: 8100
ABOUT
Franz Iffland
Franz Iffland (1862–1935) was a German sculptor and painter who worked during the late 19th and early 20th century. He was born in 1862 in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia. The majority of his sculptures were influenced by the jugendstil movement but late in his career, beginning in the mid-1920s, he produced a number of art deco sculptures. Iffland died in Berlin, Nazi Germany in 1935.
The majority of his work was produced during the art nouveau or "jugendstil" period from 1887 to 1910, but late in his career he produced a number of art deco bronzes of nude women and genre statues of ordinary working people such as blacksmiths and farmers. One of Iffland's contemporaries, who worked during the same period as Iffland in Berlin and did similar types of sculptures, was Otto Schmidt-Hofer.
Iffland also executed a few animal sculptures and sporting figure statues of archers, javelin throwers, and polo players. He presented his work in bronze at the Große Berliner Kunstaustellung (Great Berlin Art Exhibition) in 1893.
Iffland typically applied dark brown patinas to his smaller bronzes but often elected to apply more elaborate patination to larger works intended for exhibition in art shows. A number of his more important statues featured gilt patinas in real 24 carat gold. Iffland's chryséléphantine pieces tend to bring the best prices at auction.
Iffland employed a number of foundries to cast his bronzes, including the Kraas foundry in Berlin. Many of his sculptures bear the Kraas foundry mark.
The Art Deco Period: although Art Deco derives its name from the great 1925 Paris Exhibition, ‘L’Exposition Internatlionale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes’, the term is now generally applied to the typical artistic productions of the 1920’s and 1930’s. It might best be characterised as an attempt to unite arts with industry, embracing the machine age and repudiating the old antithesis of ‘Fine’ and ‘Industrial’ art. The sources of the Art Deco movement include Egyptian and Mayan Art, Cubisim, Fauvism and Expressionism, heavily influencing the chief force underlying all Art Deco with the emphasis upon geometric patterns.
For more Art Deco sculpture similar to this by Pierre Laurel please click here.
