Jean LAMBERT-RUCKI (Cracovie 1888- Paris 1967)

Totem with bull and child Made in 1956 Sculpture in hammered polychrome sheet metal and forged metal 81 x 60 x 5 cm Signed and dated on the back at the bottom left of the sheet "J. Lambert-Rucki 1956". Jean Lambert-Rucki is a painter and sculptor of Polish origin. Born in Krakow in 1888, he began his studies at the gymnasium of the city, then continued them at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow, where he had Moses Kisling as a classmate. The painter arrived in Paris in 1911 at the age of 23, without any resources, he stayed with a Polish friend whom he met by chance. The artist enrolled at the Colarossi Academy and met the artists of Montparnasse, including Soutine, Foujita, Cendrars, and Modigliani with whom he became friends. During the First World War, the painter joined the French army in the battalion of foreign volunteers. The artist became a member of the "Golden Section", founded by Survage and Archipenko and participated in the group's first exhibition in 1920. He also participated actively in the renovation of post-war buildings in Europe, Canada and the United States. In 1923, Lambert-Rucki met the sculptor and lacquerer Jean Dunand and worked for him for 20 years on screens, panel decorations and furniture. At the same time, he was a member of the Union of Modern Artists from 1931 to 1952 with Le Corbusier and Jean Fouquet. Jean Lambert-Rucki died on July 27, 1967. Jean Lambert-Rucki regularly exhibited at the Salon d'Automne, the Salon des Tuileries and the Salon des Indépendants. He exhibited in the Georges Petit (1931) and Drouant-David (1943) galleries in Paris. The Bourdelle Museum organized a retrospective exhibition of his work in 1977. An important endowment of his work will be given by his children to the Musée départemental de l'Oise in Beauvais in 1997 comprising sixty-nine sculptures, eight paintings and drawings. Some of his works are kept at the André Diligent Museum of Art and Industry in Roubaix, at the Pompidou Center in Paris and in important French and international collections.