ANTOINE BOURDELLE (1861-1929) Lot n° 13

Tête non guerrière, circa 1900-1902 Bronze à patine verte, signé, marqué du cachet du fondeur Hebrard et numéroté 3 sur la nuque Bronze with green patina, signed with Hebrard stamp and numeroted 3 on the neck H. 32 cm P: 29 cm L: 17.5 cm 12 5/8 x 11 7/16 x 6 7/8 in. PROVENANCE Collection privée, France BIBLIOGRAPHIE Ionel Jianou, Michel Dufet, Bourdelle, Deuxième édition avec le catalogue des sculptures complété et numéroté, Arted Editions d'art, Paris, 1975, n°111 p. 76 ANTOINE BOURDELLE  Born in 1861, Antoine Bourdelle is a French sculptor. The son of a carpenter-cabinetmaker, he showed an interest in drawing from an early age and left school to join his father's workshop. He quickly distinguished himself by his talent and obtained a scholarship as well as the entrance examination to the BeauxArts of Toulouse. He continued his artistic training in Paris. In 1885 he set up his own studio in Paris, at the impasse du Maine. In 1893, he joined Auguste Rodin's studio as a practitioner in order to earn a living. After an unfavourable criticism, he managed to obtain, thanks to the latter, the realization of the Monument to the dead, to the fighters and defenders of Tam-et-Garonne in 1870-1871. He exhibited in the United States for the first time and took part in the Universal Exhibition in 1900. Gradually, the artist freed himself from Rodin's influence and began to search for the "permanent plan". The result was the appearance of clean planes and a severe frontality, elements that inscribed his work in the legacy of archaic Greece. Produced around 1902-1904, Tête non guerrière illustrates Antoine Bourdelle's desire to find his own voice and thus to detach himself from Rodin's modernism. Indeed, while Rodin seeks accidental shots, exaggerates muscles and accentuates shadows, Bourdelle synthesises it, builds the form by simplifying it in order to touch only the essential.