THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CY DE COSSE

Objects hold meaning and the privilege of auctions and working with dealers is you often get to hear the origin story and provenance of pieces in a way that is not possible in a traditional retail environment. That’s the case with a terracotta sculpture and its owner Cy de Cosse.

Born in North Dakota in 1929 and raised in Minnesota, DeCosse graduated from the Minneapolis School of Art and began his first job as a junior art director in the 1950s. In 1954 he won a Fulbright scholarship to help set up an advertising program at the Instituto d’Arte di Porta Romana in Florence. There, in addition to teaching advertising, he studied with Renzo Maggini, a gifted teacher who provided DeCosse’s only formal photographic instruction.

“Lady” is a sculpture purchased in Impruneta, Italy which famous for terracotta manufacture since the 15th Century. The sculpture was a part of de Cosse’s Florentine apartment but made its way to Minneapolis upon his return to Lake of the Isles and now resides at Maison Bodega.

She is figured after the Bathing Venus by Giambologna originally housed at Grotto of Buontalenti in the Boboli Garden.