Bust of a young creole by Albert-César Cappabianca

Bust of a young Creole woman by Albert-César Cappabianca, bronze cast with reddish-brown patina, signed A. Cappabianca and stamped by foundryman J. Panini

Albert-César Cappabianca was born in Italy in 1881 and moved to Paris in 1912. In 1913, he moved to the Chartres region, where he died in 1962. Deeply attached to his adopted region, he created the Monument aux Morts de Lèves (Lèves War Memorial) in 1922. Following in the footsteps of figurative sculptors such as Despiau, Bourdelle, and Landowski, he had a more intimate sensibility and a taste for expressive simplicity.
The bust of a young Creole woman that we are presenting here is characteristic of the taste for “exoticism” that marked the interwar years; however, the work is far from the clichés of colonial imagery and presents a model full of gentleness, imbued with a calm and proud presence. Cappabianca does not seek the picturesque but favors purity of line. The work conveys a sincere admiration for his model, rather than ethnographic curiosity.
The meticulously polished surface captures the light and gives the whole piece a serenity and an almost spiritual presence.