Paul Silvestre

PAUL SILVESTRE (Toulouse, 1884 – Ivry-sur-Seine, France, 1976).
“Young Woman Kneeling, Presenting a Lion Cub to a Lioness.”
Terracotta.
Signed.
Measurements: 38 x 80 x 18 cm.

It depicts a nude, kneeling female figure delicately holding a small lion cub aloft, bringing it face-to-face with an adult lioness so she can recognize or sniff it. It stands out for its fluid lines, anatomical stylization, and the elegant geometric composition characteristic of the Art Deco period. This piece was also commercially cast in bronze editions with a dark patina, mounted on rectangular bases of marble or black wood.
Paul Silvestre enrolled in 1905 at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and in the studios of Antonin Mercié and Antonin Carlès. In 1911, he was awarded the Desprez Prize, and then the first Second Grand Prix de Rome in 1912. He exhibited regularly from 1921 onward at the Salon des Artistes Français, where he won a gold medal in 1930.
Silvestre’s work is characterized by a refined, classical, and stylized aesthetic typical of the 1920s and 1930s. He frequently used materials such as bronze (often cast using the lost-wax technique by the renowned Susse Frères foundry), terracotta, and marble.
He is well known for his mythological and allegorical figures, depictions of children, fauns, animals, and decorative objects such as bookends (e.g., *Faun & Goose*, *Le Sagittaire*, *La Chevauchée*).