Joseph Csaky, Hungarian 1888-1971 - Figure; sandstone, H47.5 x W15 x D16 cm (ARR) Provenance: the family of the Artist and thence by descent, Christie's Impressionist and Modern Day Sale, 7th February 2007, lot 411, illus.pg.254 (unsold) Note: Csaky initially studied in Budapest before moving to Paris in 1908, basing himself in a studio at La Ruche where his neighbours included Alexander Archipenko, Marc Chagall, Henri Laurens, Fernand Léger, and Chaim Soutine. Picasso and Braque had just begun experimenting with Cubism, and Csáky and Archipenko were among the first artists to create Cubist sculptures. After volunteering for the French Army in World War I, Csaky became a French citizen. He continued to produce accomplished Cubist sculptures after the war, while also engaging with the practices of Purism - a movement opposed to Cubism. From the mid-1920s there is a marked transition in the forms of his sculptures, with his preference towards a more figurative style influenced in part by the Greek korai. Csaky took part in some of the most prominent exhibitions of avant-garde art in Paris, including those at the Societe Nationale des Beaux-arts (1910-11), the Salon de la Section d’Or (1911), the “Cubist Room” of the Salon d’Automne (1911, 1912), and the Salon des Independants (1912). His work was later shown in group exhibitions at the Galerie Leonce Rosenberg, Paris (1921), Palais des Beaux-arts, Brussels (1940), Musee de Bordeaux, Paris (1973) and Musee Bourdelle, Paris (1977).