Olympic Games/ Summer, 1924/ Paris/ Polo/ Mascaux/ - Lot 67

Olympic Games/ Summer, 1924/ Paris/ Polo/ Mascaux/ Claude-Léon MASCAUX (1882-1965) Exceptional giant bronze medal. Signature halfway up, left side. Diameter: 15.4 cm Weight : 316,4 gr This work, officially celebrating polo at the Paris Games of the VIII Olympiad, is part of an astonishing artistic contribution to the Olympic Arts Competitions created by Baron de Coubertin (1st edition in 1912). This sculptor won the bronze medal in the sculpture competition (3rd ex-aequo with the Dane Gauguin) for a brilliant series of 7 medals associating the disciplines of the official Games program with the genius of certain insects or animals (the hare with running, swimming with fish, the monkey with gymnastics, etc.). Here, he dedicates this creation to polo, which has been present since the 1900 Games, but is still somewhat marginalized. The medal is featured in the official report, with a portrait of the artist, then aged 42. In pure art deco style, this polo player on his prancing horse, shown in profile on the right, is a vibrant tribute to a discipline that may be complex, but is essential. The privilege of the United Kingdom, which has medaled in polo's five appearances at the Games (1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, 1936), polo has also mobilized teams from the USA, France, Germany, Argentina, Spain and Mexico. In other words, this work is the ambassador of these Five Games and Six Nations. Well hung or atop a beautiful table, it finds all the life the sculptor gave it. This authentic piece could well be the seventh medal, which along with the six awarded at the Games, won Claude-Léon Mascaux the Grand Prix at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs in 1929. Rarer than a medal of Olympic champions, this work seems to be known only in two copies, the first preserved in the Département des Monnaies et Médailles of the Bibliothèque de France, the second you have before you. The Olympic sculpture competition attracted 67 artists from 14 nations.