Marcel Gilli

MARCEL GILLI (Thuir, 1914 – Paris, 1993).
"Female Bust,"
Marble.
Signed.
Measurements: 55 x 28 x 23 cm.

Marcel Gilli was a renowned French sculptor, painter, and academic of Catalan origin. Born in Thuir (Eastern Pyrenees), he became a leading figure in the postwar avant-garde art scene in France and went on to teach at the prestigious École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. At age 16, he was discovered by the veteran sculptor Gustave Violet in Perpignan, who helped him with his first monumental commissions. Shortly thereafter, he received the influential mentorship of one of the great masters of modern sculpture, Aristide Maillol, who guided his creative path. His career was interrupted by the war. He was taken prisoner on the Rhine in 1940 but managed to escape. Back in Paris, he co-founded the groundbreaking Salon de mai (1943) and later the Salon de la jeune sculpture (1948).