Antoine Bourdelle
Encyclopedia
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
, painter, and teacher.
Career
Bourdelle was born at MontaubanMontauban
Montauban is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse....
, Tarn-et-Garonne
Tarn-et-Garonne
Tarn-et-Garonne is a French department in the southwest of France. It is traversed by the Rivers Tarn and Garonne, from which it takes its name.-History:...
. He left school at the age of 13 to work as a wood carver in his father's cabinet making shop. He learned drawing with the founder of the Ingres Museum
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was a French Neoclassical painter. Although he considered himself to be a painter of history in the tradition of Nicolas Poussin and Jacques-Louis David, by the end of his life it was Ingres's portraits, both painted and drawn, that were recognized as his greatest...
in Montauban, then sculpture at the art school in Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
. At the age of 24 he won a scholarship to the École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, worked briefly in the atelier of Alexandre Falguière
Alexandre Falguière
Jean Alexandre Joseph Falguière was a French sculptor and painter.He was born in Toulouse...
, then several years with Jules Dalou
Jules Dalou
Aimé-Jules Dalou was a French sculptor, recognized as one of the most brilliant virtuosos of nineteenth-century France, admired for his perceptiveness, execution, and unpretentious realism.-Life:...
.
In 1888 he did his first sculptures of Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, producing authoritative work with an emphasis on order, the spirit of geometry, construction and invention. He became one of the pioneers of 20th century monumental sculpture. Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
became a great admirer of his work, and by September 1893 Antoine Bourdelle joined Rodin as his assistant where he soon became a popular teacher, both there and at his own studio where many future prominent artists attended his classes, so that his influence on sculpture was considerable.
During his last years, Bourdelle received several commissions for monuments and war memorials. He was a participant in the 1913 Armory Show
Armory Show
Many exhibitions have been held in the vast spaces of U.S. National Guard armories, but the Armory Show refers to the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art that was organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors...
in New York, a founder and vice-president of the Parisian Salon des Tuileries
Salon des Tuileries
The Salon des Tuileries was an annual art exhibition for painting and sculpture, created June 14, 1923, co-founded by painter Albert Besnard, sculptor Antoine Bourdelle, architect Auguste Perret, and others....
, and in 1924 became a commander of the Legion of Honor. Bourdelle's only son and student, Pierre Bourdelle (1901-1966), became an artist most active in the United States, most notably in the 1933 Cincinnati Union Terminal
Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal
The Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, originally Cincinnati Union Terminal, is a passenger railroad station in the Queensgate neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States...
.
Bourdelle died at Le Vésinet
Le Vésinet
Le Vésinet is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the center....
, near Paris, on October 1, 1929 and was interred in the Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris, France.
Work
Bourdelle's major work includes:- spandrel reliefs for the portal of the Musée GrévinMusée GrévinThe Musée Grévin is a waxwork museum in Paris located on the Grands Boulevards in the IXe arrondissement on the right bank of the Seine, at 10, Boulevard Montmartre, Paris, France. It is open daily; an admission fee is charged....
, Paris, 1900 - the Monument aux Morts de MontaubanMonument aux Morts de MontaubanThe Monument aux Morts de Montauban is a 1894 sculpture by Antoine Bourdelle. His romantic vision of the monument generated many violent oppositions. Auguste Rodin's intervention in 1897 enabled Bourdelle to do this sculpture without any compromise...
, 1902 - the freestanding gilded bronze Hercules the ArcherHercules the ArcherHercules the Archer is a 1909 sculpture by Antoine Bourdelle.It was a command of financial and philanthropist Thomas Gabriel. The sculpture was to be initially conducted in a single copy as requested by Gabriel Thomas...
, 1909 - the decorative series of friezes executed for the exterior of Auguste PerretAuguste PerretAuguste Perret was a French architect and a world leader and specialist in reinforced concrete construction. In 2005 his post-WWII reconstruction of Le Havre was declared by UNESCO one of the World Heritage Sites....
's Théâtre des Champs-ÉlyséesThéâtre des Champs-ÉlyséesThe Théâtre des Champs-Élysées is a theatre at 15 avenue Montaigne. Despite its name, the theatre is not on the Champs-Élysées but nearby in another part of the 8th arrondissement of Paris....
(1913). Although the building itself is famously an early example of concrete construction, the friezes are marble. - interior frieze at the Opéra de MarseilleOpéra de MarseilleL’Opéra de Marseille, known today as the Opéra Municipal, is an opera company located in Marseille, France. In 1685, the city was the second in France after Bordeaux to have an opera house which was erected on a tennis court....
, framing the stage - the Monument to MickiewiczAdam MickiewiczAdam Bernard Mickiewicz ) was a Polish poet, publisher and political writer of the Romantic period. One of the primary representatives of the Polish Romanticism era, a national poet of Poland, he is seen as one of Poland's Three Bards and the greatest poet in all of Polish literature...
near the Pont de l'AlmaPont de l'AlmaPont de l'Alma is an arch bridge in Paris, crossing the Seine. It was named to commemorate the Battle of Alma during the Crimean War, in which the Franco-British alliance achieved victory over the Russian army on September 20, 1854....
in Paris, designed in 1909, realized in 1929 - two angels on the crypt at the war memorial, HartmannswillerkopfHartmannswillerkopfHartmannswillerkopf, also known as the Vieil Armand or Hartmannsweilerkopf is a pyramidal rocky spur in the Vosges mountains of Alsace. The peak stands at overlooking the Rhine valley. At Hartmannswillerkopf stands a national monument of World War I for the fighting which took place in the...
, for French architect Robert Danis, 1920s - bronze tympanum Pieta for the Église Notre-Dame du RaincyÉglise Notre-Dame du RaincyThe Church of Notre Dame du Raincy is a modern church built in 1921-22 by the French architects Auguste Perret and Gustave Perret in the commune of Le Raincy near Paris...
, designed in the 1920s, finally realized and dedicated in September 1999 - equestrian statue of General Carlos María de AlvearCarlos María de AlvearCarlos María de Alvear was an Argentine soldier and statesman, Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata in 1815....
, Recoleta, Buenos Aires - war memorial, Capoulet-et-JunacCapoulet-et-JunacCapoulet-et-Junac is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France.-Population:-References:*...
Today the Musée Bourdelle
Musée Bourdelle
The Musée Bourdelle is an art museum located in the 15th arrondissement at 18, rue Antoine Bourdelle, Paris, France. It is open daily, except Mondays. The nearest métro stations are Falguière and Montparnasse – Bienvenüe....
in Paris sits amidst brick houses at 18 rue Antoine Bourdelle, a small street between the Gare Montparnasse
Gare Montparnasse
Paris Montparnasse is one of the six large terminus railway stations of Paris, located in the Montparnasse area in the XIVe arrondissement. The station was opened in 1840, and rebuilt completely in 1969...
and the offices of the famous French newspaper Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
. The museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
consists of Bourdelle's house, studio and garden where he worked from 1884 to 1929. A second Bourdelle garden-museum, in Égreville
Égreville
Égreville is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.-External links:* * *...
, was established by his heirs in the late 1960s hosts another 56 of his sculptures.
His work is also exhibited in public collections worldwide, including the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art (Japan), the Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art is an art museum situated in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on Cleveland's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian art, the museum houses a diverse permanent collection of more than 43,000...
, National Museum of Art of Romania
National Museum of Art of Romania
The National Museum of Art of Romania is located in the former royal palace in Revolution Square, central Bucharest, Romania, completed in 1937...
, the Courtauld Institute of Art
Courtauld Institute of Art
The Courtauld Institute of Art is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art. The Courtauld is one of the premier centres for the teaching of art history in the world; it was the only History of Art department in the UK to be awarded a top...
(London), the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, comprising the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco and one of the largest art museums in California.-External...
, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, or the National Gallery of Modern Art , is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, dedicated to modern art....
(Rome), Harvard University Art Museums
Harvard University Art Museums
The Harvard Art Museums, part of Harvard University, comprise three museums and four research centers .The Harvard Art Museums...
, the Hermitage Museum
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...
, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and is part of the...
(Washington D.C.), the Honolulu Academy of Arts
Honolulu Academy of Arts
The Honolulu Academy of Arts is an art museum in Honolulu in the state of Hawaii. Since its founding in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke and opening April 8, 1927, its collections have grown to over 40,000 works of art.-Description:...
, the Kimbell Art Museum
Kimbell Art Museum
The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, hosts a small but excellent art collection as well as traveling art exhibitions, educational programs and an extensive research library. Its initial artwork came from the private collection of Kay and Velma Kimbell, who also provided funds for a new...
(Fort Worth, Texas), Kröller-Müller Museum
Kröller-Müller Museum
The Kröller-Müller Museum is an art museum and sculpture garden, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo in the Netherlands.-Museum:...
(Otterlo, Netherlands), the Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is a fine art museum located in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, on a campus that covers nearly 8 acres , formerly Morrison Park...
, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Buenos Aires)
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Buenos Aires)
The National Museum of Fine Arts is an Argentine art museum in Buenos Aires, located in the Recoleta section of the city. The MNBA inaugurated a branch in Neuquén in 2004.-History:...
, the National Galleries of Scotland
National Galleries of Scotland
The National Galleries of Scotland are the five national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries. It is one of the country's National Collections.-List of national galleries:* The National Gallery of Scotland* The Royal Scottish Academy Building...
, the National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery.- Establishment :...
, the Ingres museum in Montauban
Montauban
Montauban is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse....
, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium , is one of the most famous museums in Belgium.-The museum:...
, and the Middelheim Museum (Antwerp, Belgium)
The teacher
Artists who studied with Antoine Bourdelle included:- Thanassis Apartis, Greece
- Alfredo BigattiAlfredo BigattiAlfredo Bigatti was an Argentine sculptor, medalist, and visual artist.Born in Buenos Aires, Bigatti studied and then taught at the Academy of Fine Arts, and then toured numerous countries in Europe from 1924 through 1928, including studying in Paris with Antoine Bourdelle.Bigatti's major work is...
, Argentina - Jose Luis Zorrilla de San MartinJosé Luis Zorrilla de San MartínJosé Luis Zorrilla de San Martín was a Uruguayan sculptor.One of the pivotal sculptors from Uruguay, he have significant impact in the monuments of the capital city of Montevideo...
, Uruguay - Samuel CashwanSamuel CashwanSamuel Adolph Cashwan was an American sculptor.- History :Cashwan was born to Jewish parents in Cherkasy, Ukraine, Russian Empire. His parents left Russia and emigrated to New York City in 1906. Cashwan began his art studies after the family moved to Detroit in 1916. His first exposure came from...
, United States - Pablo Curatella ManesPablo Curatella ManesPablo Curatella Manes was a prolific Argentine sculptor.-Life and work:Born in La Plata in 1891 to Clara Manes, a Greek Argentine immigrant, and Antonio Curatella, from Italy, Curatella Manes first acquired an interest in sculpture during his frequent childhood visits to the newly-inaugurated La...
, Argentina - Béni FerenczyBéni FerenczyBéni Ferenczy was a Hungarian sculptor and graphic artist.Born the son of Károly Ferenczy, he studied art in Munich and Paris where he studied with both Bourdelle and Archipenko His art became mature after he had returned from emigration in Germany and the Soviet Union.After his experiences with...
, Hungary - Alberto GiacomettiAlberto GiacomettiAlberto Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.Alberto Giacometti was born in the canton Graubünden's southerly alpine valley Val Bregaglia and came from an artistic background; his father, Giovanni, was a well-known post-Impressionist painter...
, Switzerland - Angela GregoryAngela GregoryAngela Gregory was an American sculptor and professor of art. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Gregory has been called the doyenne of Louisiana sculpture. Her mother, Selina Bres Gregory, was an artist who studied at Newcomb College in New Orleans with William and Ellsworth Woodward. Her father,...
, United States - Otto GutfreundOtto GutfreundOtto Gutfreund was a Czech-Czechoslovak cubist sculptor. He is acknowledged by the art historian Douglas Cooper to be the author of the first cubist sculpture: Anxiety , created in 1911 and exhibited in Paris in 1912.- Life :...
, Czechoslovakia - Bror HjorthBror HjorthBror Hjorth was a Swedish artist. Hjorth was one of Sweden’s best-known sculptors and painters, and was professor of art at the Royal University College of Fine Arts in Stockholm from 1949 to 1959. On completion of his studies, he lived in Uppsala, where he built his studio home in Kåbo, now the...
, Sweden - René IchéRené IchéFor the town in Morocco see Iche, MoroccoRené Iché was a 20th century French sculptor.-Life and work:...
, France - Raoul JossetRaoul JossetRaoul Jean Josset was a French born American sculptor.During the First World War, he worked as an interpreter for American forces in France. He was a pupil of Antoine Bourdelle between 1920 and 1926...
, France/United States - Emile LahnerEmile LahnerEmile Lahner was an Hungarian born painter who moved to Paris in 1924 and became part of the School of Paris, a group of international artists working in Paris between 1900 and 1940....
, Hungary - Aristide MaillolAristide MaillolAristide Maillol or Aristides Maillol was a French Catalan sculptor and painter.-Biography:...
, France - Vadym MellerVadym MellerVadym Meller or Vadim Meller, was a Ukrainian-Russian Soviet painter, avant-garde Cubist and Constructivist artist, theatrical designer, book illustrator, and architect...
, Russian Empire - Vera MukhinaVera MukhinaVera Ignatyevna Mukhina was a prominent Soviet sculptor.- Life :Mukhina was born in Riga into a wealthy merchant family, and lived at Turgeneva st. 23/25, where a memorial plaque has now been placed. She later moved to Moscow, where she studied at several private art schools, including those of...
, Russian Empire/USSR - Bencho ObreshkovBencho ObreshkovBencho Yordanov Obreshkov was a renowned Bulgarian painter.He graduated under P. Klissurov and I. Angelov from the Sofia Academy of Fine Arts in 1920, and specialized in painting under Oskar Kokoshka in Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden in 1926 and sculpture under Antoine Bourdelle, Paris in 1925 -...
, Bulgaria - Dudley PrattDudley PrattDudley Pratt was an American sculptor. He was born in Paris to Boston sculptors Bela and Helen Pratt. His sculptural education included study under Charles Grafly, Émile Antoine Bourdelle, and Alexander Archipenko....
, United States - Virginia Claflin PrattVirginia Claflin PrattVirginia Claflin Pratt was an American sculptor and the wife of Dudley Pratt. Her speciality was portraits of children.- References :...
, United States - Germaine RichierGermaine RichierGermaine Richier was a French sculptor.Born in Grans, Richier began her studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Montpellier; in 1926 she went to work with Antoine Bourdelle, remaining in his studio until his death in 1929. There she became acquainted with Alberto Giacometti, although the two were...
, France - Arnold RonnebeckArnold RonnebeckArnold Rönnebeck was a German-born American modernist artist and museum administrator. He was a vital member of both the European and American avant-garde movements of the early twentieth century before settling in Denver, Colorado...
, Germany/United States - Maria Helena Vieira da SilvaMaria Helena Vieira da SilvaMaria Helena Vieira da Silva was a Portuguese-French abstractionist painter.-Life:Vieira da Silva was born in Lisbon, Portugal. At the age of eleven she had begun seriously studying drawing and painting at that city's Academia de Belas-Artes...
, Portugal - Risto StijovicRisto StijovicRisto Stijović was an internationally renowned Serbian sculptor, considered to be one of the most original artists of his time. He was born in centre of Podgorica, in old Podgorica's family. He lived for years in Paris, where he met his wife, Jeanette. They moved to Belgrade where he died in 1974...
, Serbia - Mihailo Tomic, Serbia
- Sreten StojanovicSreten StojanovicSreten Stojanović was one of the most prominent Bosnian and Serbian sculptors of the 20th century.He was born in 1898 in Prijedor in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in the house of Orthodox priests who "preached the faith for strength of people and who imagined Russia to be something that is ours or more...
, Serbia - Josefina de VasconcellosJosefina de VasconcellosJosefina Alys Hermes de Vasconcellos was an English sculptor of Brazilian origin. She was at one time the world's oldest living sculptor. She lived in Cumbria much of her working life...
, England - Helen Wilson, United States
- Teodors Zalkalns, Latvia
- Ryumon Yasuda, Japan
For a first hand account of Bourdelle's teaching style see Arnold Ronnebeck's article from 1925, published in The Arts 8, no.4 titled "Bourdelle Speaks to His Puplis: From a Paris Diary."
External links
- Musée Bourdelle (in French)
- Portrait of Rodin from Antoine Bourdelle, on the official website of the Musée Rodin.