Louis Arnaud, Two Bears on a Rock (circa 1960)

LOUIS ARNAUD Two Bears on a Rock. Circa 1960. Colored pencils on heavy paper. 65 X 85 cm. Signed lower right: LArnaud. An impressive, large-scale drawing (85 cm wide) depicting two bears on a rock, by the Marseille sculptor Louis Arnaud. Born in Marseille in 1914, Arnaud studied at the Marseille School of Fine Arts before continuing his training at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he was a student of Henri Bouchard. In the 1950s and 1960s, Arnaud received numerous commissions for public and monumental sculptures in Marseille and the South of France. He specialized in depictions of animals, female nudes, and abstract rock formations. His work is distinguished by its idiosyncratic and unique character. In addition to his sculptures, he left behind a portfolio of highly original and meticulously executed drawings, some related to his sculptures, others entirely independent. This drawing of a bear is truly remarkable.