Paule VézelayFive Forms 1935

Paule Vézelay made a small number of white plaster sculptures in Paris in 1935. Five Forms, which was also exhibited in 1938 as Quatre objets sur une forme ovale (Four Objects on an Oval Form), is the finest and largest surviving example. It is made of solid plaster and consists of two cones of different sizes, a tusk-like curved cone, and a similar form cut in half lengthways, deployed upon an oval base.

Born Marjorie Watson-Williams, Vézelay trained in London and, from 1920, spent much time in Paris. She settled there in 1926, when she adopted the name Paule Vézelay to obscure both her nationality and her gender. From 1930 she made abstract paintings which became progressively simple in form… (read more)