|   Black forest StyleIn the jargon of the market of art, there is habit to indicate these objects out of wooden carved under the term of Black Forest, a name now erroneous...
Explanations.
Bears supporting a bench or being pressed on a tree whose branches form coat rack... These pieces of furniture, to the design délicieusement kitsch, generally pass for artisanal creations of the Black Forest. This mountainous area of Western Germany, located vis-a-vis the Vosges, constitutes one of the natural habitats of the bear. One did not have any more to allot to this area the paternity of a production which informs beautiful this animal. However, these pieces of furniture and these objects out of carved wooden come from the area of Brienz, in Switzerland. Besides the poet helvète, Heinrich To federate, arrange them with the row of local curiosities, as well as the cascades of Giessbach and the tasty roasted eels, another regional speciality. No tourist worthy of this name could, in this XIXe century, to leave these mountain pastures without carrying in his luggage one of these curios.
Manufactured as a dilettante by the inhabitants of the area the evening to the corner of fire, they are in XIXesiècle in the center of a lucrative trade. The history begins with the famine from 1817. To find other sources of income, a certain Christian Fischer has the idea to sell his production to the tourists. (Stéphanie Perris-Delmas) |
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A craft industry of country cottage
At the beautiful season, the country indeed attracts many English, faithful visitors prone of its majesty who follow the traces of the Victoria queen, come in the area in 1868. Its attachment for this region led it to make build, in its property of Osborne house, a country cottage decorated with pieces of furniture and Swiss curios. According to its example, the English aristocrats in holiday with Brienz, Luzern or Interlaken, stations then with the mode, buy quantity of decorative objects in the shape of country cottage, bear, stag or owl. The idea of Fischer will make followers and many workshops will exploit this seam. One of most important, that of the Binder family, will count a hundred sculptors thus.
The son, Carl Louis, will pass by the Parisian workshop of Rodin. Of return to Brienz, it will share its experiments with the other craftsmen. The small city will obtain its own school of sculpture in 1862. Each apprentice sculptor, recruited between 16 and 30 years at most, must be able to carry out the drawing of his subject. Many tests could be preserved, testifying to artistic qualities of these pupils. To improve, it is of use to go to the park of the city where one crosses, in a natural habitat, quantity of animal species, bears of course, but also of the chamois, owls… As the large Parisian animalist sculptors whose visits with the menagerie of the Botanical garden are well known, Barye at the head, our Swiss go to the park to study on sharp the subjects of their next sculptures. Curios and small movable, carried out in tender wood like the lime, are inspired thus by fauna and the local flora. The production is declined through a large variety: musical boxes, tables with smokers, umbrella-stand, coat racks, book end, pendulums and miniature or monumental sculptures; any part of 5 centimetres to 2 meters... There were even sets of complete furniture with table, chair, dresser or cupboard. Presented during the international exhibitions, this craft industry meets a real passion, in particular near the American public. The First World War will curb this production, the fall of the tourist frequentation reducing the number of potential buyers. The sculptors turned then to the realization of prostheses out of wooden, in full rise! |
| Auctions results |  3 600 €.
Banc en bois sculpté dans un tronc, les pieds supportés par deux ours sculptés, 96 x 152 x 60 cm.
Paris, 3 octobre 2005,
Fraysse & Associés.
2 000 €.
Porte-parapluie en forme d'ours.
Paris, 13 mars 2004.
David Kahn
6 000 €.
Portemanteau aux ours tenant une branche d'arbre sur laquelle se tiennent deux écureuils, H. 195 cm.
Paris, 25 décembre 2005.
Millon & Associés.
2 500 €.
Paire de consoles d'applique
à décor en ronde-bosse de chouette perchée, H. 26 cm.
Lille, 14 mars 2004.
Mercier et Compagnie.
Autres prix
12 000 €. Pendule en bois sculpté représentant un chasseur portant un mouton, seconde moitié du XIXe siècle, H. 94 cm. Paris, Sotheby's 23/5/2003.
7 200 €. Portemanteau en bois sculpté avec ours et ourson, H. 214 cm. La Rochelle, 13/12/2003.
4 800 €. Portemanteau en forme d'ours en bois sculpté, H.194 cm. Dieppe, Giffard, 8/2/2004.
1 750 €. Porte-parapluie aux ours en bois sculpté, 91 x 53 x 33 cm. L'Isle-Adam, 30/10/2005.
560 €. Boîte en bois en forme d'ours levant la patte, H. 24 cm. Paris, Fraysse, 3/10/2005.
100 €. Ours formant sonnette, Paris, Fraysse, 3/10/2005. |
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|  | |  | | Bibliography | Meubles insolites Of Newman Bruce, 1995. Swiss
Carvings, the art of the Black Forest, 1820-1940, by Jay Arenski, Simon Daniels and Michael Daniels, 2005. |
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