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Lot 72AR

Costas Valsamis
(Greek, 1908-2003)
Couple in Love 74cm. high x 15cm. wide

26 November 2013, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £6,250 inc. premium

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Costas Valsamis (Greek, 1908-2003)

Couple in Love
signed in Greek and numbered 2/3 (on the base)
bronze
74cm. high x 15cm. wide

Footnotes

EXHIBITED:
Paris, Musée Galliera, Αrtistes Témoins de leur Temps, 1965 (possibly). Illustrated in the exhibition catalogue.

LITERATURE:
H. Ziogas, The sculptor Costas Valsamis, Krikos Magazine (illustrated).


Featured in the catalogue of the major 1965 Αrtistes Témoins de leur Temps exhibition at the Musée Galliera in Paris with the caption "Eternal power of love," this important work of expressionist sculpture was described by the art critic I. Ziogas as "a truly unique piece in the history of sculpture inspired by Love. In his effort to capture this essential human attribute, the artist elongated the two figures that tend towards each other like cypresses in the wind."

Born on the island of Symi in the Dodecanese, Costas Valsamis studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts from 1932 to 1937 and in 1946 he continued his studies in Paris on a French scholarship, first at the École de Beaux Arts under Gimond and later at the Grande Chaumière under Zadkine. Upon completion of his studies he settled permanently in the French capital. Keeping pace with current trends, Valsamis arrived at a totally personal style characterised by simplified forms of expressionistic thrust. In 1977, the National Gallery in Athens organised a major retrospective of his work, while in 1980 the French Ministry of Culture honoured him with the order of 'Knight of Fine Arts.'

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