In 1922 — one year before his death — Claude Valsuani received the Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest civilian and military decoration. This single document does more to establish Claude Valsuani’s identity than any amount of argument about foundry marks or catalogue descriptions. It is a French state record. It names him. It identifies his profession. […]
The mark “C. VALSUANI” appears on bronzes sold at auction, held in museum collections, and described in dealer catalogues. It is one of the most important foundry marks in the history of French sculpture. It is also one of the most misunderstood. Understanding what C. VALSUANI means — whose initial, whose name, whose foundry — […]
The Fonderie Valsuani was one of the most significant bronze foundries in Paris during the first half of the twentieth century. Founded by Claude Valsuani around 1899, it cast bronzes for artists whose names now define the canon of modern sculpture. Its history is a history of Paris’s art world — the network of studios, […]
Claude Valsuani was the real founder of the Fonderie Valsuani in Paris — one of the most significant bronze casting houses of the early twentieth century. He was not Italian. He was not named Marcello. He was a French professional who established a foundry that cast work for some of the most important sculptors of […]