Plaster Bears. Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English “plaster” usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while “render” commonly refers to external applications. Another imprecise term used for the material is stucco, which is also often used for plasterwork that is worked in some way to produce relief decoration, rather than flat surfaces.
The most common types of plaster mainly contain either gypsum, lime, or cement, but all work in a similar way. The plaster is manufactured as a dry powder and is mixed with water to form a stiff but workable paste immediately before it is applied to the surface. The reaction with water liberates heat through crystallization and the hydrated plaster then hardens.
Plaster can be relatively easily worked with metal tools or even sandpaper, and can be moulded, either on site or to make pre-formed sections in advance, which are put in place with adhesive. Plaster is not a strong material; it is suitable for finishing, rather than load-bearing, and when thickly applied for decoration may require a hidden supporting framework, usually in metal. Reference: Wikipedia
AN EARLY 20TH CENTURY RELIEF MOULDED PLASTER PLAQUE OF A POLAR BEAR, bears signature Morris Harding, 1937, framed and glazed. 38cm by 18cm
Sold for £650 at Thomas Watson Auctioneers in 2016
Daniel Arsham b.1980 Cracked Bear fabric, plaster and pigment, with original box
Sold for 16,250 HKD at Sotheby’s in 2019