Clément Massier
Man Uplifted by Sleep C0374
Inventory NumberC0374Size
19" H x 7" WMaterial
luster-glazed earthenwarePeriod
SymbolistCountry of Origin
FranceYear Made
1899Status
AvailableCondition
Restored Break through stem
Description
James Vibert for Clement Massier. Marks: Impresesd Vibert mark / Painted MCM Golfe Juan AM [on foot]. Variously described as a lamp base, an oil lamp and an incense burner, this figural sculpture is unique among Massier's luster pottery. Its depiction of sleep as a winged woman lifting a dangling man encapsulates several motifs associated with Symbolist art: the femme fatale, often represented as a winged entity, who preys upon man's life force; conversely, the angelic being whose embrace elevates man's soul; and finally, the longing for oblivion, represented by sleep or the ingestion of drugs, a theme reiterated in the poetry of Baudelaire, Rimbaud and Verlaine. The gentle diagonal sweep of hair and fabric, combined with the allegorical subject matter combines the sculptural attributes of Renaissance bronzes with a Symbolist theme. Luster-glazing, adds the spark of divinity that partially neutralizes the erotic aspects of the composition. James Vibert (1872-1942) was the preeminent Swiss Symbolist sculptor of the late-nineteenth century. Born in Carouge, he studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Geneva, and then entered the atelier of Auguste Rodin in the early 1890s. During this time, Vibert became personally acquainted with many of France's Symbolist writers. In 1897, he exhibited his sculpture The Human Effort at the Salon des Cents. Influenced by Rodin's Burghers of Calais, Vibert's work portrayed a group of slumped figures that represented humanity's struggle with life's hardships. (The French government later commissioned Vibert to reproduce the piece as a bronze monument.) In 1900 Vibert won a gold medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition for decorative objects such as Man Uplifted by Sleep, which figured prominently in Massier's display. By 1902 Vibert had returned to Switzerland, where he was commissioned to sculpt the monument Peace and Liberty for the entrance hall of the new Swiss Parliament Building in Berne. The following year Vibert was made a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Geneva, the very school at which he had studied in his youth. Now a major figure in Switzerland's artistic community, Vibert befriended Ferdinand Hodler, also Swiss, and one of Europe's leading Symbolist painters. Hodler painted two portraits of Vibert, one of which is in the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1935 another monumental casting of The Human Effort was erected in the Parc de l'Ancien B. I. T. in Geneva, confirming Vibert's reputation as one of Switzerland's most important early modern sculptors.
