Émile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) - photo 1
Émile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) - photo 2
Émile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) - photo 3
Émile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) - photo 4
Émile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) - photo 5
Émile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) - photo 6
Émile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) - photo 7
Émile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) - photo 8
Émile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) - photo 9

Émile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929)

Sold
€ 50 400
Auction dateClassic
21.10.2023 14:30UTC +02:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
France, Paris
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1051776
Lot 487 | Émile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929)
Émile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929)

Tête de Beethoven aux grands cheveux

signé 'Bourdelle Sculpt' (sur la coté gauche de la base); inscrit 'moi je suis Bacchus qui pressure pour les hommes le nectar delicieux Beethoven' (à l’avant de la base)

bronze à patine brun vert

58.6 x 52 x 43 cm.

Conçu en 1891; cette épreuve fondue vers 1913



signed 'Bourdelle Sculpt' (on left side of the base); inscrit 'moi je suis Bacchus qui pressure pour les hommes le nectar delicieux Beethoven' (on the front of the base)

bronze with brown and green patina

23 1⁄8 x 20 ½ x 17 in.

Conceived in 1891; this bronze cast circa 1913





Provenance

Atelier de l'artiste.

Rodhia Dufet Bourdelle, France (par descendance).

Marguerite Long (don de celle-ci vers 1960).

Madame Vacher, Neuilly-sur-Seine (don de celle-ci en 1966); vente, Boisgirard & Associés, Paris, 15 décembre 2006, lot 118.

Sam Josefowitz, Pully (acquis au cours de cette vente).

Puis par descendance aux propriétaires actuels.



Literature

M. Dufet, Le Drame de Beethoven vécu par Bourdelle, Paris, 1966, p. 14 (illustré, pl 9).

I. Jianou et M. Dufet, Bourdelle, Paris, 1984, p. 71, no. 72.



Further details

De 1888 à sa mort en 1929, Bourdelle réalise environ quatre-vingts sculptures, comme autant de variations sur la figure de Beethoven. Très tôt, l'artiste originaire de Mautauban s'est identifié au compositeur allemand, tant sur le plan esthétique que physique. Bourdelle n'a donc de cesse de représenter un alter ego, tantôt en poursuivant l'idée de ressemblance, tantôt en déformant les traits de son visage, voire en les dénaturant. Ici, au tournant du siècle, l'artiste choisit de livrer une image frontale et statique de Beethoven, déployant sa volumineuse chevelure dans l'espace et structurant son visage impénétrable autour d'une grimace douloureuse. La solennité de l'image est renforcée par une citation de Beethoven, qui figure sur le socle comme une épitaphe : "moi je suis Bacchus qui pressure pour les hommes le nectar délicieux Beethoven' ".
Colin Lemoine (site du Musée Bourdelle)

From 1888 to his death in 1929, Bourdelle made around eighty sculptures, like so many variations on the figure of Beethoven. Early on, the artist from Mautauban identified with the German composer, aesthetically as well as physically. Bourdelle therefore endlessly depicted an alter ego, sometimes by pursuing the idea of resemblance, sometimes by deforming his facial features, even distorting them. Here, at the turn of the century, the artist chose to deliver a frontal, static image of Beethoven, deploying his voluminous hair in space and structuring his inscrutable face around a pained grimace. The solemnity of the image is reinforced by a quote from Beethoven, which features on the base like an epitaph : 'moi je suis Bacchus qui pressure pour les hommes le nectar délicieux Beethoven' (I am Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine for mankind).
Colin Lemoine (Musée Bourdelle website)
Artist:Emile Antoine Bourdelle (1861 - 1929)
Applied technique:Metalwork
Medium:Bronze
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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