GABARD (Ernest) - Lot 345

GABARD (Ernest) Las Hèytes de Caddetou per E. GABARD. S.l.n.d. (first third of the 20th century). In folio oblong: 1f., 21 plates illustrated in color, legend in Béarnais. Over-stapled in ½ blue-green percaline boards with corners, contents detached from cover (reinforcement to inner hinges to be provided otherwise inner leaves in excellent condition, boards illustrated in color. Gabard is to Béarn iconography what Palay is to language. Born in Pau in 1879, he began his sculptor's apprenticeship at the age of 15 with Alexandre. After 2 years, he continued his studies at the Beaux-Arts in Paris. The straitjacket of the academy didn't suit him, and he worked alone, drawing inspiration from masters such as Rodin. Back in Pau, he set up his own studio. This talented sculptor, whose marbles adorn the town of Pau, devoted himself to the "popular Béarnais" genre with equal talent, both in drawing, albums and postcards, and in statuettes, polychrome plaster groups, emblems of calandres, pipe hearths and so on. He may well be the inventor of the "derivative product" so popular today. His Caddetou character is still very popular a century later.