Jeannine Nathan

Leda and the Swan modernist mid century sculpture by French woman artist

circa 1960

An extraordinarily moving piece by an outsider artist who must have spent many a day conceiving, cutting, hammering, soldering and welding this stunning metal group made of tin and iron. The result is something completely individualistic, which at the same time recalls early medieval...

A lovely hand modelled sculpture in bas relief, depicting the head of a smiling young Parisian lady with a gleam in her eyes. The work dates from from the Belle Epoque, the art nouv...

Although I have no proof whatsoever, I like to think that this remarkable picture might have been painted by a young Georgio de Chirico shortly after his arrival in France in 1911. I...

An elegant African sculpture from the West African Baoulé or Baule people, depicting a young woman wearing a loincloth. Smooth black lightly worn patina.

A bronze sculpture by Reuben Nakian from 1978. An abstract-figurative sculpture representing the Greek myth of Leda and the Swan- in which the Greek god Z...

What makes this sculpture special is the wonderful melding of abstraction with content and the textured approach to surface of the bronze. What is also striking is the form of the A...

SALE ONE WEEK ONLY “Leda and the Swan” is by Reuben Nakian (1897 - 1986). He was an American sculptor and teacher of Armenian extraction. His works’ recurring themes are from Greek and Roman mythology. Nakian’s small bronzes achieve majesty and power which are not dependent on size and amplitude. With characteristic freshness, he has reinterpreted the classical subject of Leda and the Swan refining it in the Classical-Renaissance-Baroque tradition in a contemporary way. Dr. Robert P. Metzger gives us his aesthetic interpretation of this work which retells the myth in classical hedonism and freedom of expression showing Leda and the Swann prior to her being ravaged and during their first meeting. “The young virgin is fascinated with her new found friend and accepts him in a spirit of playfulness, contentment and wonder. She is dreamily available and shyly seductive as the deceptively tame swan snuggles up to her with its phallic-like neck.” Leda appears composed, placid yet open and available as compared to her more intense and passionate states in other of Nakian’s depictions on the same theme. This was cast at the "Renaissance Art Foundry" in 1978 and is so marked on the base being #5 of 7. It is believed that “no other sculptor of the twentieth century matched Rueben’s heroic renditions with the grand themes of Western Art. His erotic mythological figures exude a joyous energy of gesture and movement which place them among seminal sculptural achievements of the past one hundred years.” Nakian studied at the Independent School of Art in New York City previously known as the Robert Henri School … with Homer Boss...

Mogens Bøggild. Bronze sculpture "Leda and the Swan", 1950-1960. Dark patinated bronze. Signed with monogram 'MB'. Mogens Kruse Bøggild (11 June 190...