Jan and Joel Martel "L'Accordioniste" The Accordion Player Sculpture Art Deco

Jan and Joel Martel “L’Accordioniste” The Accordion Player. in Cast stone sculpture with painted wood base France, circa 1925. One of the most important sculpture by these brothers, it was done it many different materials, bronze, wood, cast stone. The base has a few spots of wear, In overall good condition.

Jan and Joël Martel were avant-garde sculptors born in Nantes, France in 1896. The artist duo was best-known for their ornamental sculptures, statues, monuments and fountains which strongly favored Art Deco and Cubist influences. They shared a workshop and jointly issued all of their work, co-signed “Martel.” The Martel brothers were very actively involved in the Paris art scene beginning in the 1920s and continuing for several decades. Among their most celebrated works are the “Monument to Claude Debussy”, the sculptures cast for the 1925 Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris and their Plaster and Aluminum sculptures created at the 1948 London Olympic Games in the Art Competitions. The artists were among the founding members of the Union des Artistes Modernes. The twin brothers both died in 1966, Jan in an accident and Joël as the result of an illness.