André-Pierre Schwab (1883-1969), A Pair of Bronze Relief Plaques

André-Pierre Schwab (French, 1883-1969)
“Mamm Cooz Pennec” & “Tad Cooz Pennec”
("Stubborn Old Mum" and "Stubborn Old Dad")
A Pair of Bronze Relief Plaques
Circa 1910
Framed
Measures:- 13.5 cm x 12.5 cm (framed)

Exhibited:-
Schwab showed a pair of these plaques at the Paris Salon of 1910.

A pair of sculpted miniature portrait wall-plaques by the French medalist André-Pierre Schwab. The plaques with the profiles of an elderly man, facing to the right, and an elderly woman, facing to the left. The woman wears a specific type of Breton headdress, a close fitting coif or coiffe, folded up with trailing ribbons behind, in the shape once specifically associated with the commune of Fouesnant in the Finistère département of Brittany, north-western France. Lettered with the titles beneath and signed "Schwab", within the images.

The Breton phrase "Cooz Pennec" (or more properly "Kohz Pennek") translates as "Old Stubborn" so the images are respectively entitled "Stubborn Old Dad" and "Stubborn Old Mum". They almost certainly depict the artist's own parents. Both retain their original, early 20th Century, walnut frames.

André-Pierre Schwab studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he was a pupil of Jules-Clément Chaplain (1839–1909), Frédéric-Charles de Vernon (1858-1912), Antonin Mercié (1845-1916) and Paul Auban (1869-1945). From 1905 he exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon and showed a pair of similar plaques at the Salon of 1910. Schwab was awarded a gold medal in 1926.

For others of these plaques see Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille and Musée Départemental Breton [1991.72.14 & 1991.72.15].