Resumen de "Le Demi-monde" ou "Perversité": redécouverte de deux bustes en cire et en grès de Ringel d'Illzach (1847-1916): Nouvelles acquisitions pour le musée des Arts décoratifs
The Demi-Monde or Perversité: Rediscovery of Two Busts in Wax and in Stoneware by Ringel d'Illzach (1847-1916). New Acquisitions at the musée des Arts décoratifs.
The musée des Arts décoratifs has recently acquired a rare bust in polychrome wax by Jean-Désiré Ringel d'Illzach (1847-1916) and its version in enameled stoneware produced by the manufacture Emile Muller et Cie. Entitled Le Demi-Monde or Perversité, signed and dated 1877 on its base worked in boiled carton, the wax reproduces the head of a life size sculpture in painted wax exhibited at the Salon of 1879. Presented several years before Degas' Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans, the work caused a scandal at the Salon because of its size combined with the hyperrealism of its flesh. The wax bust at the musée des Arts décoratifs is the only remaining trace of this large sculpture since lost. Two editions in plaster, the one in stoneware and a last one in marble, convey the variations in different materials of this model on the border between fine arts and decorative arts. These two acquisitions thus provide the occasion to return to the genesis of this important work in the career of Ringel d'Illzach, protean artist, simultaneously sculptor, medalist, master of wax, glassmaker, and ceramist.
