Athletics/ Gymnastics/ Lorraine/ Prouvé/ Laxou. Original lit - Lot 4

Athletics/ Gymnastics/ Lorraine/ Prouvé/ Laxou. Original lithograph: "Concours de Laxou, août 1905, Force, Courage, Beauté, Adresse, Association des Gymnastes de Meurthe et Moselle." This little-known masterpiece is signed by the great Victor Prouvé of Nancy (1858-1943). In this shot putter officiating under this beautiful tree, what symbols!!!! 64X48. Beautifully framed. GOOD CONDITION. In those early days of sports, when athletics and gymnastics overlapped somewhat, the implement used to throw the shot put was sometimes a stone or cobblestone, often heavier or even twice as heavy as the official tool, which was hard to come by..."The handsome athlete from Lorraine throws a cobblestone under a tree of justice, he would like to swing it all the way to the blue horizon of the Vosges", says Robert Bourras, reminding us that Alsace-Lorraine was then painfully occupied by the Germans following France's defeat in 1871.