F.Parpan : "La Charogne", Original Plaster Worshop Sale Provenance, 1949

Ferdinand PARPAN (1902-2004, France) : « La charogne*» (1949)

Original plaster on wood base - Unique piece

Studio plaster Inspired by Charles Baudelaire's poem ('Une Charogne')
Plaster alone dimensions: H 20 cm x W 55 cm x D 29 cm

Sculpture depicting the body of a naked woman lying on her back. His arms are clenched on the ground, his legs slightly bent and raised. His belly is swollen by the relatively advanced decomposition of his body, which leaves only skeleton and shreds of flesh visible.
It rests on its original rectangular wooden base, on which several labels and exhibition numbers appear (see distinctive signs).

Signed F. PARPAN and dated 49 (1949) on the back of the arm;

Signature countersigned in black pencil next to the signature.

Bears the number "128" on the façade of the wooden base (serial number of the sale of the Parpan workshop collection on 15 March 2006). Recently lost !

On the back of the base is an exhibition label, as well as two labels with the numbers "2191", one nailed, the other glued.
Worm holes on the wooden base easily identifiable (deworming treatment carried out).
Total Sculpt Weight: 10720g

Cast dimensions: Height 20 cm x Width 55 cm x Depth 29 cm
Wooden base dimensions: Height 3.5 cm x Width 57 cm x Depth 22 cm
Total dimensions (wood base included): Height 23.5 cm x Width 57 cm x Depth 29 cm

Condition: Good overall condition.
Cleaning carried out by a professional restorer.
Filling of two slits in the cast at the level of the right leg (knee and ankle) carried out by a professional restorer.

Origin:
Sale of Ferdinand PARPAN's studio collections. Private collection, France.

Comment on the work:
Here, the artist invites us to meditate on the transitory nature of existence and the immanence of death. His plaster cast entitled "La Carrion", presented here, is a very powerful illustration of this. Life and death follow one another in a perpetual repetition. An abundant existence is reborn from this decomposing body.
From death comes life, which itself assumes only a most transitory character. This reflection also invites the observer to be very humble in the face of the relative beauty of things.
Note on the source of inspiration for the sculpture:
Les Fleurs du mal is a collection of poems by Charles Baudelaire, encompassing almost all of his verse from 1840 until his death in August 1867. Published on June 25, 1857, the book immediately scandalized conformist society concerned with respectability. Covered with opprobrium, its author was subjected to a resounding trial and censorship.
From 1861 to 1868, the work was republished in three successive versions, enriched with new poems; the forbidden plays are published in Belgium. The restoration did not take place until almost a century later, in May 1949, when the book was once again distributed in its original version.

Full text of Baudelaire's poem :

« Une charogne » - Charles BAUDELAIRE (1821 - 1867)

Rappelez-vous l'objet que nous vîmes, mon âme,
Ce beau matin d'été si doux :
Au détour d'un sentier une charogne infâme
Sur un lit semé de cailloux,

Les jambes en l'air, comme une femme lubrique,
Brûlante et suant les poisons,
Ouvrait d'une façon nonchalante et cynique
Son ventre plein d'exhalaisons.

Le soleil rayonnait sur cette pourriture,
Comme afin de la cuire à point,
Et de rendre au centuple à la grande Nature
Tout ce qu'ensemble elle avait joint ;

Et le ciel regardait la carcasse superbe
Comme une fleur s'épanouir.
La puanteur était si forte, que sur l'herbe
Vous crûtes vous évanouir.

Les mouches bourdonnaient sur ce ventre putride,
D'où sortaient de noirs bataillons
De larves, qui coulaient comme un épais liquide
Le long de ces vivants haillons.

Tout cela descendait, montait comme une vague,
Ou s'élançait en pétillant ;
On eût dit que le corps, enflé d'un souffle vague,
Vivait en se multipliant.

Et ce monde rendait une étrange musique,
Comme l'eau courante et le vent,
Ou le grain qu'un vanneur d'un mouvement rythmique
Agite et tourne dans son van.

Les formes s'effaçaient et n'étaient plus qu'un rêve,
Une ébauche lente à venir,
Sur la toile oubliée, et que l'artiste achève
Seulement par le souvenir.

Derrière les rochers une chienne inquiète
Nous regardait d'un œil fâché,
Epiant le moment de reprendre au squelette
Le morceau qu'elle avait lâché.

- Et pourtant vous serez semblable à cette ordure,
A cette horrible infection,
Etoile de mes yeux, soleil de ma nature,
Vous, mon ange et ma passion !

Oui ! telle vous serez, ô la reine des grâces,
Après les derniers sacrements,
Quand vous irez, sous l'herbe et les floraisons grasses,
Moisir parmi les ossements.

Alors, ô ma beauté ! dites à la vermine
Qui vous mangera de baisers,
Que j'ai gardé la forme et l'essence divine
De mes amours décomposés !

Biography

A French sculptor and painter, he was introduced to wood carving at an early age with his father. He opened his own studio in 1926 but did not begin to present his works in solo exhibitions until years later from 1936. He regularly participated in group exhibitions, at the Salon des Indépendants, the Salon de la Jeune sculpture in Paris in 1956, and the Salon d'Automne in Paris in 1970.

He has also exhibited outside France, in numerous galleries in England, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and the United States. Among other distinctions, he won the first prize for sculpture in Monte Carlo in 1960.
Parpan opted for simplified shapes and figures, using distinct, smooth planes and clean lines.
This sculptor, who received little media coverage until the end of the 1950s, developed a creative approach that is very close to that of his most illustrious contemporaries today, and who are considered representative of the most important movements in twentieth-century sculpture. His work is represented in numerous collections in France and abroad.

Sculptor expositions : Paris: Jacmar (1936), Paris: Galerie Badinier (1956), Metz, Saarbrücken, Strasbourg, Valenciennes: exhibition of sacred art (1957), Paris: Cercle Volney (1959), Germany: Saarbrücken (1963), Great Britain: William Street Gallery, Edinburgh (1966), Le Mans: Galerie du Pilier Vert (1971), Paris: Galerie Reflets (1976), Galerie Makassar, Paris.

References:
"Ferdinand Parpan Sculpteur – Jean-Jacques Lévèque - Editons de l'amateur - 1989".
"L'intuition des formes – Jean-Charles Hachet – Somogy Editions d'arts – 2001", work reproduced on page 218.
The Flowers of Evil, Charles Baudelaire. Collection of poems, 1867.

Acknowledgements: Mr. and Mrs. Christophe Parpan, grandchildren of the sculptor.

Condition report:

Repaired.