Description
Charles Malfray (1887-1940) L'Effroi, monument to the dead of the city of Pithiviers, 1921-1923 Plaster 60 x 22.5 x 23 cm Missing a small hand This plaster sculpture of L'Effroi is a model for the monument to the dead, commissioned in 1920 from the Malfray brothers by the city council of Pithiviers. It consists of a base designed by Henri and a stone soldier created by Charles. Charles Malfray took a sketch made during a leave in 1916, which represents a soldier lifted by the blast of a shell. He thus depicts an anti-hero instead of the long-awaited superman, just as Rodin had done with the Bourgeois de Calais. The representation of the horror of war, of the face to face encounter with death, violently disturbed the Pithivériens. Malfray succeeds in touching the spectator by doing without accessory details. The hands, strong, attract the glance and lead it in an ascending movement until the face where culminates the emotion. Related literature Jacques de Laprade, ibid, p. 18. Charles Malfray 1887-1940 sculptor, ibid.
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Charles Malfray (1887-1940) L'Effroi, monument to the dead of the city of Pithiviers, 1921-1923 Plaster 60 x 22.5 x 23 cm Missing a small hand This plaster sculpture of L'Effroi is a model for the monument to the dead, commissioned in 1920 from the Malfray brothers by the city council of Pithiviers. It consists of a base designed by Henri and a stone soldier created by Charles. Charles Malfray took a sketch made during a leave in 1916, which represents a soldier lifted by the blast of a shell. He thus depicts an anti-hero instead of the long-awaited superman, just as Rodin had done with the Bourgeois de Calais. The representation of the horror of war, of the face to face encounter with death, violently disturbed the Pithivériens. Malfray succeeds in touching the spectator by doing without accessory details. The hands, strong, attract the glance and lead it in an ascending movement until the face where culminates the emotion. Related literature Jacques de Laprade, ibid, p. 18. Charles Malfray 1887-1940 sculptor, ibid.
