Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
Encyclopedia
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska was a French sculptor who developed a rough hewn, primitive style of direct carving.
Henri Gaudier was born in Saint-Jean-de-Braye
near Orléans
. In 1910 he moved to London to become an artist, even though he had no formal training. With him came Sophie Brzeska
, a Polish
writer over twice his age whom he had met at the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève
in Paris, and with whom he began an intense symbiotic relationship, annexing her surname although they never married. (According to Jim Ede
the linking of their names was never more than a personal arrangement) During this time his conflicting attitudes towards art are exemplified in what he wrote to Dr. Uhlmayr, with whom he had lived the previous year:
He resolved these reservations by taking up sculpture, having been inspired by his carpenter
father. Once in England Gaudier-Brzeska fell in with the Vorticism
movement of Ezra Pound
and Wyndham Lewis
, becoming a founding member of the London Group
. After coming under the influence of Jacob Epstein
in 1912, he began to believe that sculpture should leave behind the highly finished, polished style of ancient Greece and embrace a more earthy direct carving, in which the tool marks are left visible on the final work as a fingerprint of the artist. Abandoning his early fascination for Auguste Rodin
, he began to study instead extra-European artworks located in the British Museum
and the Victoria and Albert Museum
. As he was unable to afford the raw materials necessary to attempt projects on the scale of Epstein's Indian and Assyrian influenced pieces, he concentrated initially on miniaturist sculpture genres such as Japanese Netsuke
before developing an interest in work from West Africa and the Pacific Islands.
In 1913 he assisted with the illustrations of Haldane Macfall's book The Splendid Wayfaring along with Claud Lovat Fraser
and Edward Gordon Craig
.
Gaudier-Brzeska's drawing style was influenced by the Chinese calligraphy and poetry which he discovered at the "Ezuversity", Ezra Pound's unofficial locus of teaching. Pound's interaction with Ernest Fenollosa
's work on the Chinese brought the young sculptor to the galleries of Eastern art, where he studied the ideogram and applied it to his art. Gaudier-Brzeska had the ability to imply, with a few deft strokes, the being of a subject. His drawings also show the influence of Cubism
.
At the start of the First World War, Gaudier-Brzeska enlisted with the French army. He appears to have fought with little regard for his own safety, receiving a decoration for bravery before being killed in the trenches at Neuville-St.-Vaast
. During his time in the Army, he sculpted a figure out of the butt of a rifle taken from a German soldier, "to express a gentler order of feeling"
Following his death Sophie Brzeska became distraught, eventually dying in an asylum in 1925. Jim Ede
bought a sizeable portion of Gaudier-Brzeska's work from Sophie Brzeska's estate including numerous letters sent between Henri and Sophie. Ede used these as the basis for his book Savage Messiah on life and work of Gaudier-Brzeska, which in turn became the basis of Ken Russell
's film of the same name
.
Despite the fact that he had only four years to develop his art, Gaudier-Brzeska has had a surprisingly strong influence on 20th-century modernist sculpture in England and France. His work can be seen at the Tate Gallery
, Kettle's Yard
, the Musée National d'Art Moderne
in Paris and the Musée des Beaux Arts Orléans. The Nasher Museum of Art
at Duke University
held an exhibition entitled The Vorticists
: Rebel Artists in London and New York, 1914-18 from September 30, 2010 through January 2, 2011, which includes his work.
Henri Gaudier was born in Saint-Jean-de-Braye
Saint-Jean-de-Braye
Saint-Jean-de-Braye is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.-References:*...
near Orléans
Orléans
-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...
. In 1910 he moved to London to become an artist, even though he had no formal training. With him came Sophie Brzeska
Sophie Brzeska
Sophie Brzeska was a Polish writer and artistic muse most noted for being the companion sculptor/artist Henri Gaudier-Brzeska. Twice Henri's age they met in 1909 at the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève in Paris, and began an intense symbiotic relationship. Henri annexed her surname although they...
, a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
writer over twice his age whom he had met at the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève
Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève
The Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève inherited the writings and collections of one of the largest and oldest abbeys in Paris. Founded in the sixth century by Clovis I and subject to the rule of St. Benedict Abbey, initially devoted to the apostles Peter and Paul, in 512 received the body of the St...
in Paris, and with whom he began an intense symbiotic relationship, annexing her surname although they never married. (According to Jim Ede
Jim Ede
Harold Stanley Ede also known as Jim' Ede, was an English collector of art and friend to artists.Ede studied painting at Newlyn Art School between 1912 and 1914 when he was called up in World War I...
the linking of their names was never more than a personal arrangement) During this time his conflicting attitudes towards art are exemplified in what he wrote to Dr. Uhlmayr, with whom he had lived the previous year:
He resolved these reservations by taking up sculpture, having been inspired by his carpenter
Carpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
father. Once in England Gaudier-Brzeska fell in with the Vorticism
Vorticism
Vorticism, an offshoot of Cubism, was a short-lived modernist movement in British art and poetry of the early 20th century. It was based in London but international in make-up and ambition.-Origins:...
movement of Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
and Wyndham Lewis
Wyndham Lewis
Percy Wyndham Lewis was an English painter and author . He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art, and edited the literary magazine of the Vorticists, BLAST...
, becoming a founding member of the London Group
London Group
The London Group is an artists' exhibiting society based in London, England, founded in 1913, when the Camden Town Group came together with the English Vorticists and other independent artists to challenge the domination of the Royal Academy, which had become unadventurous and conservative....
. After coming under the influence of Jacob Epstein
Jacob Epstein
Sir Jacob Epstein KBE was an American-born British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British citizen in 1911. He often produced controversial works which challenged taboos on what was appropriate subject matter...
in 1912, he began to believe that sculpture should leave behind the highly finished, polished style of ancient Greece and embrace a more earthy direct carving, in which the tool marks are left visible on the final work as a fingerprint of the artist. Abandoning his early fascination for 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...
, he began to study instead extra-European artworks located in the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
and the Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
. As he was unable to afford the raw materials necessary to attempt projects on the scale of Epstein's Indian and Assyrian influenced pieces, he concentrated initially on miniaturist sculpture genres such as Japanese Netsuke
Netsuke
Netsuke are miniature sculptures that were invented in 17th-century Japan to serve a practical function...
before developing an interest in work from West Africa and the Pacific Islands.
In 1913 he assisted with the illustrations of Haldane Macfall's book The Splendid Wayfaring along with Claud Lovat Fraser
Claud Lovat Fraser
Claud Lovat Fraser was an English Artist, designer and author.Claud Lovat Fraser was a member of a distinguished old family in which it was traditional to include the name Lovat in the eldest son's name. For much of his life he was know simply by that name...
and Edward Gordon Craig
Edward Gordon Craig
Edward Henry Gordon Craig , sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was an English modernist theatre practitioner; he worked as an actor, director and scenic designer, as well as developing an influential body of theoretical writings...
.
Gaudier-Brzeska's drawing style was influenced by the Chinese calligraphy and poetry which he discovered at the "Ezuversity", Ezra Pound's unofficial locus of teaching. Pound's interaction with Ernest Fenollosa
Ernest Fenollosa
Ernest Francisco Fenollosa was an American professor of philosophy and political economy at Tokyo Imperial University...
's work on the Chinese brought the young sculptor to the galleries of Eastern art, where he studied the ideogram and applied it to his art. Gaudier-Brzeska had the ability to imply, with a few deft strokes, the being of a subject. His drawings also show the influence of Cubism
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
.
At the start of the First World War, Gaudier-Brzeska enlisted with the French army. He appears to have fought with little regard for his own safety, receiving a decoration for bravery before being killed in the trenches at Neuville-St.-Vaast
Neuville-Saint-Vaast
Neuville-Saint-Vaast is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:Neuville-Saint-Vaast is situated north of Arras, at the junction of the D49 and D55 roads...
. During his time in the Army, he sculpted a figure out of the butt of a rifle taken from a German soldier, "to express a gentler order of feeling"
Following his death Sophie Brzeska became distraught, eventually dying in an asylum in 1925. Jim Ede
Jim Ede
Harold Stanley Ede also known as Jim' Ede, was an English collector of art and friend to artists.Ede studied painting at Newlyn Art School between 1912 and 1914 when he was called up in World War I...
bought a sizeable portion of Gaudier-Brzeska's work from Sophie Brzeska's estate including numerous letters sent between Henri and Sophie. Ede used these as the basis for his book Savage Messiah on life and work of Gaudier-Brzeska, which in turn became the basis of Ken Russell
Ken Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
's film of the same name
Savage Messiah
Savage Messiah is a 1972 British biographical film of the life of French sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, made by Russ-Arts and distributed by MGM. It was directed and produced by Ken Russell with Harry Benn as associate producer, from a screenplay by Christopher Logue, based on the book Savage...
.
Despite the fact that he had only four years to develop his art, Gaudier-Brzeska has had a surprisingly strong influence on 20th-century modernist sculpture in England and France. His work can be seen at the Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, Kettle's Yard
Kettle's Yard
Kettle's Yard is an art gallery and house in Cambridge, England.- History and overview :Kettle's Yard was originally the Cambridge home of Jim Ede and his wife Helen. Moving to Cambridge in 1956, they converted four small cottages into one idiosyncratic house and a place to display Ede's collection...
, the Musée National d'Art Moderne
Musée National d'Art Moderne
The Musée National d'Art Moderne is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou in the 4th arrondissement of the city. Created in 1947, it was then housed in the Palais de Tokyo and moved to its current location in 1977...
in Paris and the Musée des Beaux Arts Orléans. The Nasher Museum of Art
Nasher Museum of Art
The Nasher Museum of Art is the art museum of Duke University, and is located on Duke's campus in Durham, North Carolina, USA. The $24 million museum was designed by architect Rafael Viñoly and opened on October 2, 2005...
at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
held an exhibition entitled The Vorticists
Vorticism
Vorticism, an offshoot of Cubism, was a short-lived modernist movement in British art and poetry of the early 20th century. It was based in London but international in make-up and ambition.-Origins:...
: Rebel Artists in London and New York, 1914-18 from September 30, 2010 through January 2, 2011, which includes his work.
Relationship with Sophie Brzeska
Gaudier met Sophie Brzeska, a Polish ex-governess twice his age when he was only 18. Gaudier was an artist and Brzeska a novelist. Several books about Gaudier's work have been produced, but only the book "Savage Messiah" by H.S. Ede focuses on the relationship. Brzeska was more a companion and her relationship with Gaudier resembled a co-dependancy, since both suffered from clear mental health issues. Henri was devoted to Sophie, even taking her last name as his, but Sophie was often dismissive and cold towards Henri's romantic overtures (indeed, according to Ede they either never had sex, only once or twice or rarely). They were often apart and Sophie would buy Henri prostitutes for his enjoyment instead of having relations with him. Brzeska is often left out of accounts of Gaudier's life. Even "Savage Messiah" itself focuses on the artist and Brzeska is regarded with very little interest. Ken Russell's 1972 film of the book changes the focus to Sophie and Henri Gaudier's relationship.Sources
- Pound, Ezra, Gaudier-Brzeska: A Memoir (London: John Lane, 1916; rpt. New York: New Directions, 1970 ISBN 0-8112-0527-4)—memoir of Pound's time with Gaudier-Brzeska, including letters and photos of sculpture
- "We the Moderns": Gaudier-Brzeska and the Birth of Modern Sculpture (Cambridge: Kettle's Yard, 2007 ISBN 1-904561-22-5)—catalogue of an exhibition of the same name
External links
- Tate Collection
- Tate: TateShots: Gaudier-Brzeska's Sketchbook. 2011.
- Background to the film Savage Messiah
- Article on Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Ken Russell's film