French impressionist bronze by Richard Guino – Femme aux Miroir.

French impressionist bronze by Richard Guino – Femme aux Miroir. A beautiful patinated bronze figure by Richard Guino. From the Valsuani foundry using the lost wax process,
Signed to the rear of the bronze Guino dated 1914 and numbered in Roman numerals to the side of the base 5 of 8. A second foundry seal to the inside – Cire Perdue Valsuani. A beautiful example of French impressionist sculpture. Height 36cm

History 
Richard Guino Sculptor, decorator, ceramist, draftsman and painter of Spanish origin.

Born in 1890 in Spain (Girona), Ricard Guinó i Boix, known as Richard Guino studied sculpture at the School of Arts in Girona, then at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona. During his collective exhibitions in Girona and Barcelona, ​​he was noticed in 1910 by Aristide Maillol (1861-1944), who offered him a position working together in Paris. Settled in Montparnasse in 1910, the young artist assisted the painter in the creation of the “Cycle of the Seasons”. His sculptures and drawings are a tribute to women, whose femininity is accentuated by nudity and drapery: Venus with apple, Large Bather, Egyptian… A suite of inks represents the dance of Isadora Duncan ( 1877-1927) embodying Greek figurines.

Richard Guino exhibited in various galleries, at the Society of Decorative Artists (SAD) and at the National Society of Fine Arts. With his growing success, the art dealer Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939) not only bought his works, but offered to hire him as a sculptor for Auguste Renoir (1841-1919). This elderly painter is handicapped by deforming rheumatism and cannot practice sculpture himself. From 1913 to 1918, the Guino-Renoir artistic collaboration gave birth to numerous pieces deemed to be modern sculpture.

Subsequently, he signed a contract with the Hébrard gallery, which organized personal exhibitions for him in 1919, 1922 and 1922. In parallel with sculpture, the artist was interested in ceramics and collaborated from 1922 to 1932 with the Manufacture de Sèvres which will publish its models in sandstone and biscuit.
Richard Guino also made enamelled ceramics.

When the painter Renoir died in 1919, the sculptures were published and sold under his sole name by Vollard, followed by other publishers (Renou, Poyet). “The attribution of these collaborative works was revised sixty years after their creation, following a long trial initiated in 1965 by Michel Guino, son of Richard and sculptor himself, who worked to publicize the his father’s work.”

Renoir-Guino sculptures are present in various museums: Musée d’Orsay, Petit Palais, Domaine des Collettes (Cagnes sur Mer), Tate Gallery (London), MoMA (New York), History Museum (Girona)

The Valsuani foundry was started by the brothers Claude and Attilio Valsuani who learned the foundry trade while employed at the Hebard foundry. While working for Hebard, Claude Valsuani showed great promise as a finisher and eventually worked his way up to become the Technical Director of the Hebard foundry. In 1899 Claude Valsuani started his own foundry in Chatillon, casting mostly small works for various artists primarily using the lost wax technique of casting (cire perdue). In 1905 he moved his foundry to 74 Rue des Plantes in Paris. Among the better known sculptors who had the Valsuani foundry cast their works were: Renoir, Picasso Despiau, Paul Troubetzkoy, Matisse, and Gaugin. Claude Valsuani died in 1923 in his native Italy but his son, Marcele took over the running of the foundry and continued to produce extremely fine detailed bronzes until the 1970's.

Date French c 1914

Condition . Excellent original condition.

Dimensions Height 36 cm base 21 x 18 cm

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