ANTOINE PONCET Noeud Lumineux

ANTOINE PONCET (1928-2022)

« Noeud Lumineux », 1958

Bronze sculpture
Monogram and numbered “AP 2/6” on the base
Dimensions:
H 53 x W 23 x D 16 cm

20,86 x 9 x 6,29 inches

Provenance :

Private Collection Geneva

Bibliography:

Denys Chevalier, Antoine Poncet, La Rose des Vents, similar model reproduced p.33

Grandson of the painter Maurice Denis and son of Marcel Poncet, Swiss painter-glassmaker, Antoine Poncet discovered sculpture in 1942, first with Casimir Reymond in Lausanne, then Germaine Richier in Zurich. He was a student at the Lausanne School of Fine Arts from 1942 to 1945. A French state scholarship holder, he returned to Paris where he settled permanently in 1948. He then became a student of Ossip Zadkine and Marcel Gimond, meets Jean Arp - whose collaborator he will be from 1953 to 1955 and will retain a profound influence -, Constantin Brancusi, Henri Laurens and becomes friends with Alicia Penalba, Étienne-Martin and François Stahly.

In 1956, Antoine Poncet participated in the Venice Biennale and the following year received the André Susse prize awarded by the Academy of Fine Arts. His first personal exhibition took place in 1956 at the Iris Clert gallery in Paris. Antoine Poncet therefore participated in numerous events. In 1960, he was a member of the jury for the Bourdelle Prize, from 1961 to 1965, he participated in the Antwerp - Middelheim Biennials (Belgium), and in 1963 at the Manazuru Sculpture Symposium (Japan). In 1969 he was president of the Salon de Mai committee. In 1983, he received the Henry Moore Prize from the Hakone Museum (Japan) and in 1996 the Hermitage Prize (Lausanne).

Antoine Poncet is a member of the Academy of Fine Arts, of which he was president in 2009. He was its dean, from the death of Pierre Cardin in 2020 to his own death on August 13, 2022.