Set of 4 carved panels - Edouard CHASSAING (1895-1974)

« Vendémiaire », « Brumaire », « Frimaire » and « Fructidor »
An impressive set of wood panels depicting four months of the Republican calendar

hand carved walnut wood
made for PRIMAVERA, the Art workshop of the "Printemps" Department store.
Signed "Primavera" and monogrammed by the artist at the low right side.

France
circa 1930-1940
height 59,5 cm
width 42 cm
depth 6 cm

Biography :
Edouard Chassaing (1895-1974) was a French sculptor. Originally from Clermont-Ferrand, Chassaing moved to Paris around 1913. Winner of a sculpture prize during his studies, he left the latter to become the pupil of sculptor Herctor Lemaire at the National School of Decorative Arts. Then he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he was strongly influenced by Rodin's works. Chassaing exhibited from 1912 to 1927 decorative figures and busts at the Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts, the Salon des Independants, the Salon of the Society of Decorative Artists and the Salon d'Automne. At the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris in 1925, he won two gold medals and a diploma of honor.

In 1926, Edouard Chassaing ceased his collaboration with "Primavera", the Art Workshop of the "Printemps" Department store, where he produced wood and plaster sculptures, to join for a few months "La Maîtrise", the Art Workshop of the Galeries Lafayette. Then Chassaing immigrated to Chicago in 1927, where he made decorative sculptures for the American National Bank, the Field Museum and various schools. Chassaing appeared a dozen times at the Chicago Art Institute's exhibitions before the end of the Second World War, where he was appointed professor in 1933. In 1934, he executed an order from the Fine Arts Section of the Treasury, which was installed later at the post office in Kankakee, Illinois. It includes three wooden reliefs, representing animals with farmers carrying bushels of corn and wheat, strongly inspired by his panels of the Republican Calendar, dating from the time of Primavera.