Description
EMILE-ANTOINE BOURDELLE (French, 1861 – 1929).
La Nuit de profil (The Night in profile)
Conceived 1900-1904
Cast 1972
Patinated bronze
Interior signature “BY BOURDELLE.”
Foundry stamp (at base) reads: “Cire Valsuani Perdue.”
Bourdelle Star Seal LR
Christies (New York City) label under wooden base reads: 8 Nov 2000; auction 8447; Impressionist and Modern Art; Lot 22.
Height (excluding base): 21.5 inches (23.25 inches including base)
Condition: Excellent with wear but no notable issues to bronze. 2 of 3 screws loose on wooden base but stands solid and displays beautifully.
A very rare Brutalist bronze sculpture by Emile Antoine Bourdelle. This larger that life sculpture is a powerful and large expressionistic surreal rendering of a man covering his face with his hand. Possibly fearful in the night or from war trauma; it’s up to the observer to figure it out. The size is wonderfully large, yet playable in any part of your studio or living room. So far, everyone that walks into my living room comments on its presence and stature. A truly remarkable sculpture. Very little is known about this piece except that it was conceived from 1900-1904 and only another bronze and a plaster cast exist. This cast has been submitted to the Musee Bourdelle in Paris where they have to only other bronze one known to exist.
The only provenance is that this Bourdelle passed through Chistie’s Auction House in New York in 2000 with affixes sticker to bottom of wooden base. A printout of the Musee Bourdelle’s bronze pictured as well as the Artnet proof that the sculpture passed through Christie’s.
Antoine Bourdelle (French; 30 October 1861 – 1 October 1929), born Émile Antoine Bordelles,[1] was an influential and prolific French sculptor and teacher. He was a student of Auguste Rodin, a teacher of Giacometti and Henri Matisse, and an important figure in the Art Deco movement and the transition from the Beaux-Arts style to modern sculpture.
His studio became the Musée Bourdelle, an art museum dedicated to his work, located at 18, rue Antoine Bourdelle, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, France.
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