Jean Osouf (1898-1996) Coralie Circa 1939 Bronze bust with green-brown patina Bears the initials JO and is numbered 4 / 8 Bears the founder's stamp A. VALSUANI CIRE PERDUE Black Belgian marble base, H. 10 cm H. 21 cm Related literature: Galerie Martel-Greiner, Jean Osouf (1898-1996), Paris, Industria, 2000. A member of the Group of Nine with Paul Cornet, Raymond Corbin and Marcel Damboise among others, Jean Osouf was a self-taught artist. A bookseller and hero of the First World War, it was Aristide Maillol who convinced him of his talent for sculpture. Osouf attended the Scandinavian Academy, where he studied under Charles Despiau. After the Exposition Universelle of 1937, where his statue L'Éveil (The Awakening) was well received by the critics, he embarked on a career as a sculptor influenced by medieval art. From 1935 to 1945, Jean Osouf created numerous works of his model Coralie. These busts and heads are an opportunity for the sculptor to study the girl's behavior and character with delicate veracity. Commenting on these female busts, art critic Waldemar George remarked, "Osouf finds in his busts of young girls the sinuous smile of the Angel of Reims, that 'vincien' smile avant la lettre which is one of the emblems of French culture".