Touching plaster sculpture of the dancer Isadora Duncan by Charles Malfray. Charles Malfray was friends with the American dancer Isadora Duncan (1877-1927), who caused a furore in Paris and the rest of the world. He had her in mind when he made a sculpture of a dancer. She was his muse. Yet there is no known bronze in which he immortalized Isadora Duncan, except this plaster, which was also prepared as a mold for casting a bronze. whether something went wrong at the time, such as a fracture in her leg, is not known. It is known that she posed for him in his studio in 1920/1921 and that he also won a poster competition with a design for a poster by Isadora Duncan in June 1921. This plaster was made at the time. This plaster was probably dear to him, despite all the minor damage, it is a very beautiful sculpture, it has struck her posture so beautifully, the hands along her neck, the position of her head with the chin slightly up, the drama, her dance pose. For me the 'skin' of the plaster is also so lively, because of all the shades of color created by the gum lacquer with which the work has been treated to prepare it for casting in bronze. Because of her half leg, a pedestal with a stand has been made in the studio so that she can stand upright. I chose to leave it that way. The work is not signed.
