Word: ratapoil
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...FRENCHMAN'S sculptural imagination spans from serious to comic, from a relief of suffering refugees to a statue of the bizarre "Ratapoil," in a rippling tail coat, who symbolizes the evils of the Bonaparte government. It sweeps the eye around its angular limbs jabbing the air with elbow, beard, and a cane. Questions of authenticity begin with a group of bronze figures that resemble the bourgeois types of the Daumier lithographs, but are of unknown origin. The incredibly detailed catalogue points to subtle inconsistencies in style of these sculptures, hinting that they may have been copied from Daumier's lithographs...
...show leaves out no detail concerning the sculpture. The poster and catalogue are decorated even with an x-ray of a bronze edition of jaunty Ratapoil. White lines indicate the density of the metal and tubular inner supports. It suggests the complexiy of the technical study done on each piece, while weaving its own oddly beautiful pattern...
...plaster caricature of an imaginary middle-class know-nothing called Ratapoil. Next highest was $59,591 for a life-size plas ter bust executed around 1855 of Dau mier himself, complete down to the wrinkles and warts. Bidding for the 14 drawings was lively enough to bring prices up to $17,346 for a single one. Buyers were mostly private European collectors, who seem to have recaptured some of the enthusiasm of Balzac. To tal take: a staggering...
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