Through his father, a veterinary surgeon, Georges Hilbert developed an early passion for the animal world. It was, however, through close observation of animals at the Jardin des Plantes that he learned his craft as a sculptor. He was particularly drawn to the practice of direct carving, a technique revived at the very beginning of the century by Joseph Bernard. Hilbert himself learned it from the Spanish sculptor Mateo Hernandez (1885\u20131949), whom he met at the Jardin des Plantes and for whom he worked. Like Hernandez, Hilbert adopted the method of confronting the block of stone directly, working on site and in front of the model, without necessarily relying on drawings or preparatory sketches. He likewise favored the hardest materials: diorite, green schist, agate, obsidian, granite, and marble\u2014such as that used for the present sculpture.<\/p>\n
In 1930, a study trip to Egypt introduced him to the animal sculptures of the Pharaonic period. The purity and austerity of ancient Egyptian animal statuary left a lasting impression on him. His subsequent encounter with Fran\u00e7ois Pompon further encouraged him to focus on expressing the behavior and character of the animal, while preserving the synthetic line so dear to the master.<\/p>\n
This evolution is particularly evident in the present\u00a0Male Panther<\/em>, dated 1947, when compared with a\u00a0Puma<\/em>\u00a0executed shortly after Hilbert\u2019s return from Egypt. Both works are carved in hard stone and share a comparable formal simplicity. In each case, the animal is seated upright on its haunches, with the forelegs extended and the tail folded alongside the hind limbs. Yet whereas the\u00a0Puma<\/em>\u00a0adopts a rather stiff and restrained pose, the\u00a0Male Panther<\/em>, by contrast, appears far more natural and animated. Its head, slightly inclined forward, the barely open muzzle, and the more pronounced whiskers lending a subtle tremor to the lips, suggest an intense attentiveness to something unfolding before it. The musculature, articulated through deep, confident carving, is more pronounced and elegantly conveys the latent power of the beast, emerging from the dark mass of the block through the brilliant reflections of the polished black marble.<\/p>\n This is a mature work in which Georges Hilbert achieves a remarkable balance between formal modernity and figurative clarity, imbued with great sensitivity.<\/p>\n The sculpture is a unique piece, carved from a magnificent marble known as\u00a0Petit Granit Belge<\/em>, recognizable by its fine texture and characteristic fossil inclusions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So-called\u00a0Petit Granit Belge<\/em>\u00a0marble, signed \u201cHILBERT\u201d and dated \u201c47\u201d on the base A label on the reverse reads: \u201cGALERIE DABER PARIS \u2013 Exposition GEORGES HILBERT April\u2013May 1975 \u2013 no. 8 Male Panther.\u201d<\/p>\n Exhibition:\u00a0Galerie Daber, Paris 8th arrondissement, 18 April\u201310 May 1975, no. 8.<\/p>\n Related works:\u00a0Puma<\/em>\u00a0in pink granite, inv. FNAC 3699, acquired in 1932;\u00a0Panther<\/em>\u00a0in bronze, Mus\u00e9e Lambinet, Versailles.<\/p>\n Bibliography:\u00a0Ren\u00e9 Cl\u00e9ment, \u201cNotice sur la vie et les travaux de Monsieur Georges Hilbert (1900\u20131982),\u201d\u00a0Revue de l\u2019Acad\u00e9mie des Beaux-Arts<\/em>, no. 29, pp. 19\u201332.<\/p>\n SOLD<\/strong><\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13593,"template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[312,319],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13600","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-chefs-doeuvre-vendu-en","7":"product_cat-georges-hilbert-en","8":"description-off","10":"first","11":"instock","12":"shipping-taxable","13":"product-type-simple"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.galerienicolasbourriaud.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/13600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.galerienicolasbourriaud.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.galerienicolasbourriaud.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.galerienicolasbourriaud.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.galerienicolasbourriaud.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.galerienicolasbourriaud.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=13600"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.galerienicolasbourriaud.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=13600"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.galerienicolasbourriaud.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=13600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Georges HILBERT<\/span><\/h1>\n
\nH. 18\u201d\u00a0(46 cm) – W.17 \u00bd\u201d (44.5 cm) – D. 9 \u00bd\u201d (24 cm)
\n1947
\nUnique piece<\/p>\n