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Gerard Rigot
French Folk Art Hand Carved Painted Whimsical Childrens Cat Chair Gerard Rigot
c.1980's

About the Item

Gerard Rigot (France, 1929-) Animeubles, Child's Chair Circa, 1980's Folk art, hand carved chair in the form of a cat. Hand signed on bottom Endorsed by the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris. Dimensions: Measures 23" x 19" x 13" The chair is made from softwood, probably pine, alder, ash, birch or hornbeam. It stands on four legs and has a simple D-shaped form. A carved cat’s head adorns the proper right arm, and an erect tail the proper left. The legs of the chair are shaped at the feet to resemble a cat’s paws. The whole chair is painted in simple, dilute oil colours, predominantly a soft red, with a green gray seat and blue-white stripes on the tail and body. The facial features are highlighted. The artist’s signature is painted in black on the underside of the seat. Gerard Rigot was born in the suburbs of Paris in 1929, and began sculpting and painting whimsical fantastic wood furniture after moving to the countryside at the age of 49. Before becoming a full-time artist in the late-1970s, Rigot had a varied career including stints as a soldier and a photography assistant, his practice being particularly influenced by a period he spent working as a teacher in Algeria. When the painter Gerard Rigot bought a farmhouse in Toulouse, France, he began to make furniture. Inspired by his cat and using native oak and pine, he carved and painted playfull naive animal furniture: cat chairs and toucan benches. In Monsieur Rigot’s small atelier an assistant cuts the wood into rough shapes. Mr. Rigot uses hand tools to refine the shapes, and he joins them with dowels. When he paints the pieces he takes liberties with the animals’ colors, using bright hues – a camel might be yellow – but he captures the particular charm and posture of each animal. The furniture thus combines fantasy and function, but it is also comfortable. One chair has a cat on each side, the arched backs serving as armrests. A chest is in the guise of a hippopotamus wallowing in water, the wavy stripes painted beneath the animal’s body suggesting rippling water. The back of another chair is formed by two kissing giraffes, their necks gracefully arching toward each other. While most of his furniture depicts animals, Rigot also uses people as inspiration; a cupboard is in the shape of a voluptuous woman. His work is of the same vein as Henri Maik, Gustavo Novoa, Camille Bombois and Annette Ollivary. Gérard Rigot, adds a whole new dimension of whimsy to carved animal furniture. Chairs that used the curved arch of a cat’s back to create the shape of the arms, and dressing tables with long-necked pelicans holding each side of a fish flanked mirror in their beaks. While cats continue to feature heavily in his more recent designs, he does also branch out to flamingos, antelopes and bears in his furniture designs. A particular highlight is a crowing rooster whose tail lends itself perfectly to a table lamp, the feathers masking a lightbulb. His furniture does not exclusively feature animals, however. In one chair, two mermaids’ bodies form the arms and front legs of the chair, while their flowing hair connects to form the back. Like the Indonesian furniture, Rigot’s creations tread the fine line between form and function, finding the parallels between animals and furniture, and then manipulating those similarities to create thoroughly unique objects that are as useful as they are playful. Rigot had already been successful as a more commercial artist, working predominantly in bronze and making figurative sculptures. It was when he bought a farmhouse at the age of 49, and trading his urban hometown of Paris for the more rural Toulouse, that he began sculpting furniture. Initially, the sculptures were for his own home, but have, more recently, also found commercial success, fetching thousands of dollars at auction. Gerard Rigot's house was featured in House and Garden UK in May 1988.

Creator:

Gerard Rigot (1929)

Creation Year:

c.1980's

Dimensions:

Height: 23 in (58.42 cm)Width: 19 in (48.26 cm)Depth: 13 in (33.02 cm)

Medium:

Wood,Paint

Movement & Style:

Folk Art

Period:

20th Century