Ary Bitter

A pupil of Jacques Coutan, Ary Bitter was a distinguished proponent of the Art Deco style in sculpture, succeeding in translating its stylised elegance into the figurative tradition. He specialised in the depiction of animals as well as female nudes, as exemplified in the present marble, and exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon between 1910 and 1939, obtaining a gold medal in 1924. 

Significant marbles by the sculptor, like the present group of Leda and the Swan, rarely appear on the market. Bitter's interpretation of this risqué subject from Greek mythology is profoundly sensual, with Leda's head thrown back in ecstasy.