Katarzyna Kobro – Femme assise (Sitting Woman), 1980

Femme assise (Sitting Woman)

cast circa 1980

Bronze with black patina

Cast à la cire perdue

21 × 19 × 15 cm (8¼ × 7½ × 5⅞ in.)

Inscribed “KOBRO” and stamped “CLEMENTI”

Executed in the 1980s at the Fonderie Clementi, Meudon, under the supervision of Gilbert Clementi and on commission from Galerie Franka Bernt, Paris.

Cast from the original plaster model.

Edition: Hors Commerce (HC); it is said that only around six to eight examples were ever produced.

Provenance:

Galerie Franka Bernt, Paris (commissioned c. 1980)

Private collection, Poznań

Certificate: Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Gilbert Clementi, Maître Artisan Fondeur d’Art, dated 18 December 2021, confirming the casting and patina.

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Katarzyna Kobro’s Femme assise offers a rare glimpse into the sculptor’s figurative explorations, distinct from the radical spatial abstractions that defined her position within the European avant-garde. The seated figure, simplified into a sequence of compact, interlocking planes, evokes the same sense of balance and rhythmic harmony that underpinned her Constructivist ideals.

This bronze was cast in the 1980s at the prestigious Fonderie Clementi in Meudon, renowned for its meticulous cire perdue work. The foundry’s records indicate that several examples were made under the direction of Gilbert Clementi for Galerie Franka Bernt in Paris — though accounts suggest that only six to eight copies in total were ever completed.

Combining intimacy of scale with sculptural discipline, Femme assise bridges Kobro’s early figurative studies and her lifelong search for formal purity. Its restrained modeling and soft black patina convey both human presence and structural abstraction, reaffirming her conviction that the beauty of sculpture arises from the harmony of rhythm and space.