Art & Statues
Jean Canneel Silvered Bronze Cubist Sculpture, Belgian Art Deco, circa 1925
Jean Canneel Silvered Bronze Cubist Sculpture, Belgian Art Deco, circa 1925
This exceptional and extremely rare silver-plated bronze sculpture by Belgian artist Jan Canneel is a striking example of the intersection between Cubist form and Art Deco elegance. Dating to around 1925, the figure—rendered in a stylized kneeling pose and partially draped with a gilded cloak—is both architectural and expressive, showcasing Canneel’s masterful understanding of mass, movement, and volume. The bronze rests on a polished black marble base and is signed in the casting.
While terracotta or plaster versions of this sculpture have occasionally surfaced, bronze editions—particularly in this silvered finish—are nearly unknown, elevating this to a collector-level rarity. The blend of metallic surfaces, geometric contouring, and quiet monumentality reflects the transition from decorative to modernist sensibilities in early 20th-century European sculpture.
Jean (Jan) Canneel (1889–1963) was an accomplished Belgian sculptor who exhibited in Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, and Paris. Trained under Victor Rousseau and Charles Van der Stappen, Canneel began as an ornamentalist in the atelier of Georges Houtstont before serving in World War I, where he sustained injuries that delayed his sculptural career until after 1920. His major public commissions include the “Monument to Doctors” at the Saint-Pierre Clinic in Brussels and the 1930s allegorical work “Springtime.” In 1933 he was named Director of the Académie at Saint-Gilles, and in 1957 he was commissioned to create a monument to King Leopold III during his time in the Belgian Congo.
Canneel was part of a multigenerational artistic dynasty—his grandfather, Théodore Joseph Canneel, was a renowned painter, and his brother Eugène Canneel was a prolific sculptor who exhibited at the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Décoratifs. This sculpture stands as a refined and enduring work from one of Belgium’s key figures in early modernist sculpture.
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We are featuring two pieces of Canneel sculpture at the Art Deco Collection.
Diploma from the 1935 Belgian Exposition
Eugene Canneel Sculpture
