# François Pompon artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/francois-pompon/ Profile generated: 2026-05-02T23:06:30.035Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1855-05-09 - Death date: 1933-05-06 - Nationality: French - Movements: Modern stylized animalier sculpture - Common media: Bronze (cast, patinated), Marble, Stone (carved), Plaster ## About François Pompon François Pompon was a French sculptor and animalier born on 9 May 1855 in Saulieu, Burgundy. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Dijon before moving to Paris, where he assisted established sculptors while developing his own practice. Pompon made his Salon debut in 1879 with a statue inspired by Victor Hugo's Cosette. Over subsequent decades he gravitated toward animal subjects, refining a smooth-surfaced, radically simplified style that stripped forms to their essential volumes. This mature approach went largely unnoticed until the 1922 Salon d'Automne, where his monumental Ours blanc (White Bear) brought him wide recognition at the age of 67. Today Pompon is regarded as a pivotal figure bridging nineteenth-century animalier traditions and twentieth-century modernist abstraction. His works are held by major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He died in Paris on 6 May 1933. ## Common works and media Pompon is best known for smoothly modeled, stylized animal sculptures. The most frequently encountered works at auction are cast-bronze editions of animal subjects — particularly the White Bear (Ours blanc), Rooster (Coq), Condor, Hippopotamus, Pelican, and various birds. Bronze editions in reduced formats are the works most likely to appear in appraisal contexts. Marble, stone, and plaster versions exist but are less common on the market. Medals and plaquettes are also documented among his output. ## Market and appraisal context François Pompon maintains an active and well-documented secondary market with 407 auction lots recorded since 2003, of which 284 carry realized prices. The market is anchored by European auction houses including Christie's, Sotheby's, Artcurial, and Tajan, with strong representation from French regional houses such as Crait-Muller, Osenat, and Millon & Associés. Price dispersion is wide: the entry level begins at €400 for posthumous or after-model bronzes (e.g., a Grand Ours brun d'après at €800, Louiza Auktion, Sep 2024), while signed lifetime casts of sought-after models reach well into five and six figures. The median realized price sits at €11,700, with the interquartile range spanning €3,800 to €27,360. A standout Artcurial result of €150,000 (Nov 2025) and a historical maximum of €2,000,000 indicate that rare or monumental examples — likely unique stone or marble versions or important lifetime bronze casts — command significant premiums. Liquidity has contracted somewhat recently: only 2 priced lots in the most recent 12 months versus 17 in the prior period, though this may reflect collection cycles rather than diminished demand. The Ours blanc remains the most consistently traded and highest-value model, followed by bird subjects (Faisan at €7,500, Tourterelle at €4,200) and the Coq. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence François Pompon maintains an active and well-documented secondary market with 407 auction lots recorded since 2003, of which 284 carry realized prices. The market is anchored by European auction houses including Christie's, Sotheby's, Artcurial, and Tajan, with strong representation from French regional houses such as Crait-Muller, Osenat, and Millon & Associés. Price dispersion is wide: the entry level begins at €400 for posthumous or after-model bronzes (e.g., a Grand Ours brun d'après at €800, Louiza Auktion, Sep 2024), while signed lifetime casts of sought-after models reach well into five and six figures. The median realized price sits at €11,700, with the interquartile range spanning €3,800 to €27,360. A standout Artcurial result of €150,000 (Nov 2025) and a historical maximum of €2,000,000 indicate that rare or monumental examples — likely unique stone or marble versions or important lifetime bronze casts — command significant premiums. Liquidity has contracted somewhat recently: only 2 priced lots in the most recent 12 months versus 17 in the prior period, though this may reflect collection cycles rather than diminished demand. The Ours blanc remains the most consistently traded and highest-value model, followed by bird subjects (Faisan at €7,500, Tourterelle at €4,200) and the Coq. ### Appraisal notes An Appraisily appraisal of a Pompon work would use these 407 auction records as a comparable-sales foundation, filtered by model, medium, edition status (lifetime vs. posthumous), foundry mark (e.g., Valsuani, Susse Frères), dimensions, and patina condition. The wide price range — €400 to €2,000,000 — means that precise attribution of model, edition number, and foundry is essential before selecting comparables. Posthumous editions and works catalogued as d'après typically trade at a fraction of lifetime casts. The appraiser would combine the auction-record comparables with physical examination of the piece: verifying signature and foundry stamps, measuring dimensions against known models, assessing patina quality and surface condition, and reviewing any provenance documentation. For Ours blanc models, the specific version (grand, moyen, petit, or modèle C) significantly affects value, as demonstrated by the €20,000 Crait-Muller result for a modèle C versus the €150,000 Artcurial result for what is likely a larger or rarer variant. ### Valuation factors - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] ### Collector notes ### Market caveats - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] ### Market evidence sources - undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/francois-pompon/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francois-pompon-1855-1933-ours-blanc-modele-c-167-c-e8c4fb5b6d - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francois-pompon-1855-1933-37-c-71d49dfae6 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francois-pompon-1855-1933-36-c-dc34d309dc - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francois-pompon-x-yves-klein-408-c-c9943a98a2 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francois-pompon-1855-1933-faisan-146-c-357434da05 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francois-pompon-1855-1933-tourterelle-145-c-c984ec9b88 ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from museum records, library authority files, and published references with available auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lot data. For François Pompon, biographical and identity data are drawn from the Library of Congress Name Authority File, VIAF, RKD, Wikidata, and MoMA collection records, supplemented by auction-house and encyclopedia sources. ## Sources - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr93045790 - RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History): https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/215138 - VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/39387070/ - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q609754 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Pompon - The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/4679 - Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500048146