Antoine Bourdelle (; 30 October 1861 – 1 October 1929), born Émile Antoine Bordelles, was an influential and prolific French

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and teacher. He was a student of

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...

, a teacher of Giacometti and

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

, and an important figure in the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

movement and the transition from the Beaux-Arts style to modern sculpture. His studio became the

Musée Bourdelle The Musée Bourdelle (, ''Bourdelle Museum'') is an art museum located at 18, rue Antoine Bourdelle, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, France, located in the old studio of French sculptor Antoine Bourdelle (1861–1929). The museum is op ...

, an art museum dedicated to his work, located at 18, rue Antoine Bourdelle, in the

15th arrondissement of Paris The 15th arrondissement of Paris () is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ('the fifteenth'). The 15th arrondissement, called , is situated on the Rive ...

, France.

Early life and education

Émile Antoine Bourdelle was born at

Montauban Montauban (, ; ) is a commune in the southern French department of Tarn-et-Garonne. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, and the sixth most populated of Oc ...

Tarn-et-Garonne Tarn-et-Garonne (; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania Regions of France, region in Southern France. It is traversed by the rivers Tarn (river), Tarn and Garonne, from which it takes its n ...

in France on 30 October 1861. His father was a wood craftsman and cabinet-maker. In 1874, at the age of thirteen, he left school to work in his father's workshop, and also began carving his first sculptures of wood. In 1876, with the assistance of writer Émile Pouvillon, he received a scholarship to attend the School of Fine Arts in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, though he remained fiercely independent and resisted the formal program. In 1884, at the age of twenty-four, he earned second place in the competition to enter the

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

in Paris. There he worked in the studio of Alexandre Falguière and frequented the studio of Jules Dalou, who was his neighbor.

Career

In 1885 he participated in the annual Salon of artists and won an honorable mention for his work, ''The First Victory of Hannibal''. He rented a studio at 16 Impasse du Main, next to the painters Eugène Carrière and Jean-Paul Laurens. He worked in this studio until his death.Lemoine (2004), p. 8 6MA-B

In 1887, he quit the studio of Falguièr, and, moved by the music of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

, he made his first of what would eventually be some forty sculptures of the composer. In September 1893 Bourdelle joined the studio of

. His collaboration with Rodin lasted fifteen years. In 1895, he received his first official commission, a war monument for the city of

. His proposed plans, different from traditional monuments, created a scandal. Rodin intervened on his behalf, and the monument was finally erected in 1902. In 1900, Bourdelle demonstrated his independence from Rodin's style with a bust of Apollo. In the same year, Bourdelle, Rodin and the sculptor Desbois opened a free school of sculpture, the Institut Rodin-Debois-Bourdelle. One of the students was

, who later produced some remarkable sculpture, but the school did not last long. In 1905, Bourdelle had his first personal exhibition, in the gallery of the foundry-owner Hébrand. With the support of Hébrand and the material assistance of his foundry, Bourdelle was able to make larger works and earn greater recognition. His father died in 1906, and Bourdelle changed his first name to simply Antoine, after his father. He married his second wife, Cléopatre Sevastos (1892-1972), who was of Greek origin. She and their daughter, Rhodia, became a frequent inspiration for his works. In 1908, Bourdelle left the studio of Rodin and set out on his own. In 1909 he exhibited a new work, '' Hercules the Archer'' at the annual Salon of the Societé Nationale des Beaux-Arts. He began to teach at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, where his students included Giacometti, Isaac Frenkel and Adaline Kent. In 1913 the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées was inaugurated, with decoration on the facade and the interior atrium designed by Bourdelle. This work announced the debut of the

style, and was an important step towards modernism. He was a participant in the 1913 Armory Show in New York, a founder and vice-president of the Parisian Salon des Tuileries. He remained in Paris during the First World War, working on a commission for an art patron from Argentina, Rodolfo Acorta, a monument to General Alvear, which was inaugurated in Buenos Aires in 1925. In 1929, his first major public sculpture in Paris, the monument to the Polish poet Mickiewicz, was inaugurated on Place d'Alma.

Death and legacy

Bourdelle, in poor health, died at

Le Vésinet Le Vésinet () is a suburban Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. It is a part of the affluent outer suburbs of western Paris, from ...

, near Paris, on 1 October 1929 and was interred in the

Cimetière du Montparnasse Montparnasse Cemetery () is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery has over 35,000 graves, and approximately 1 ...

, Paris, France.

Museums

Today the

in Paris sits amidst brick houses at 18 rue Antoine Bourdelle, a small street between the

Gare Montparnasse Gare Montparnasse (; Montparnasse station), officially Paris Montparnasse, is one of the seven large List of Paris railway stations, Paris railway termini, and is located in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, 14th and 15th arrondissement of Paris ...

and the offices of the famous French newspaper ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

''. The

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

consists of Bourdelle's house, studio, and garden where he worked from 1884 to 1929. In the 1930s his widow opened his art studio for viewings. In 1949, the atelier of Bourdelle was donated by his former spouse Cléopâtre and his daughter to the city of Paris and it was opened as the

, additionally the street was renamed as rue Antoine Bourdelle. A second museum, the Bourdelle Garden-Museum in Égreville, France was established by his daughter and son-in-law starting in 1969 and hosts another 56 of Bourdelle's sculptures in a garden setting.

Collections

His art work is in many public collections worldwide, including

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

(Paris), the

National Museum of Western Art The is the premier public art gallery in Japan specializing in art from the Western tradition. The museum is in the Ueno Park in Taitō, central Tokyo. It received 1,162,345 visitors in 2016. History The NMWA was established on June 10, 1959 ...

(Tokyo), List Visual Arts Center at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

(Cambridge, Massachusetts), Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, Massachusetts),

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Located in the Wade Park District of University Circle, the museum is internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian art, Asian and Art of anc ...

, National Museum of Art of Romania, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

(London), Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna (Rome),

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...

(Saint Petersburg, Russia), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington D.C.),

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It has one of the largest single co ...

Kimbell Art Museum The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, hosts an 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, w ...

(Fort Worth, Texas), Kröller-Müller Museum (Otterlo, Netherlands), the

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the List of largest art museums, largest ar ...

, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Buenos Aires), the

National Galleries of Scotland The National Galleries of Scotland (, sometimes also known as National Galleries Scotland) is the executive non-departmental public body that controls the three national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries, forming one of the Nation ...

, National Gallery of Australia, Musée Ingres (Montauban), the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Middelheim Open Air Sculpture Museum (Antwerp, Belgium), and the Museum of Fine Arts (St. Petersburg, Florida), among others.

Personal life

In 1904, Bourdelle married artist Stephanie van Parys (also known as Vanparys, 1877–1945). His wife often served as a model for Bourdelle; by 1910 they had divorced. Together with van Parys they had a son, Pierre Bourdelle (c.1903–1966) and Pierre became an artist most active in the United States, and notable for his work at

Cincinnati Union Terminal Cincinnati Union Terminal is an intercity train station and museum center in the Queensgate, Cincinnati, Queensgate neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Commonly abbreviated as CUT, or by its Amtrak station code, CIN, the Railroad terminal, termin ...

in 1933. Bourdelle married in 1918 his former art student, Cléopâtre Sevastos (1882–1972), who also served as his model. Together with Sevastos they had a daughter, Rhodia Bourdelle (her married name was Dufet, Dufet–Bourdelle, 1911–2002) and she was an art curator.

Honors

In 1909 he was named Knight of the

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

, in 1919 ''Officier'' of the Legion of Honor, and in 1924 became a Commander of the Legion of Honor.

Sculpture

Musée Ingres-Bourdelle - La première victoire d'Hannibal, 1885 - Plâtre - Antoine Bourdelle Joconde06070001104.jpg, ''Hannibal's First Victory'' Original Plaster (1885) The Great Warrior of Montauban - Washington, D.C..jpg, ''The Great Warrior of Montauban'', bronze, (1898), Hirshhorn Museum,

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Le Jour et la Nuit par Antoine Bourdelle.JPG, ''Day and Night'', marble, 1903,

, Paris Bourdelle sculptress p1070128.jpg, ''The Sculptress at Work'', 1906, bronze, Stanford Museum, Stanford University, California Herakles the Archer - MET - 24.232.jpg, '' Hercules the Archer'' (1909), Metropolitan Museum of Art Musée Ingres-Bourdelle - Buste d'Ingres 1908 - Bronze - Bourdelle - Joconde06070001137.jpg, ''Bust of Ingres'', Musée Ingres-Bourdelle,

(1908) Antoine Bourdelle, 1910-12, Apollon et sa méditation entourée des neuf muses, bas-relief, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris DSC09314.jpg, Apollo with three of the nine muses, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (1910–12) Antoine Bourdelle - Pénélope 1912 - Montauban.jpg, ''La Grande Penelope'', bronze, 1912,

Dallas Crow Center 15 Bourdelle Horse for Alvear monument 1.jpg, ''Monument to Alvear Horse'', Trammell Crow Sculpture Garden,

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, Texas (1913–25) Antoine Bourdelle - La mort du dernier centaure - Montauban.jpg, ''Dying Centaur'', 1914, bronze, Musée Ingres-Bourdelle,

Bourdelle Osaka01s3200.jpg, ''La Liberté'', Daido Life Insurance Company,

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

, Japan The Virgin Of Alsace by Emile-Antoine Bourdelle.jpg, ''The Virgin of Alsace'', 1919–21,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland Monumento al Gral Carlos M Alvear - de Antoine Bourdelle - Buenos Aires .JPG, '' Monument to General Carlos M. de Alvear'', Recoleta,

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Antoine Bourdelle, ca.1922, Monument La France, H. 9 m, bronze, Hohwiller founder, erected 18 June 1948, Palais de Tokyo, Paris.jpg, Monument titled ''La France'') (1922), erected 18 June 1948, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris,

Palais de Tokyo The Palais de Tokyo (''Tokyo Palace'') is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, facing the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs to ...

Bust of Jean Moreas, National Garden, Athens.JPG, ''Bust of Jean Moreas'', bronze, National Sculpture Garden,

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Greece Bust of Gustave Eiffel, by sculptor Antoine Bourdelle.jpg, ''Bust of

Gustave Eiffel Alexandre Gustave Eiffel ( , ; Bonickhausen dit Eiffel; 15 December 1832 – 27 December 1923) was a French civil engineer. A graduate of École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, he made his name with various bridges for the French railway net ...

'' at the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

France Antoine Bourdelle - Sapho 1925 - Montauban.jpg, ''

Sappho Sappho (; ''Sapphṓ'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; ) was an Ancient Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music. In ancient times, Sapph ...

'', 1925

France

Students

Artists who studied with Antoine Bourdelle included: *

Athanase Apartis Athanase Apartis (, 24 October 1899 – 1 April 1972) was a Greek sculptor. His busts of famous people and monumental works stand in many public places in Greece. Life Athanase Apartis was born on 24 October 1899 in Smyrna, Asia Minor, son of ...

, Greece * Alfredo Bigatti, Argentina * Jean de Botton, France * Lucie Bouniol, France * Margaret Butler (sculptor), New Zealand * Samuel Cashwan, United States * Pablo Curatella Manes, Argentina * Margaret Cossaceanu, Romania * Céline Emilian, Romania * Béni Ferenczy, Hungary *

Yitzhak Frenkel Yitzhak Frenkel (; 1899–1981), also known as Isaac Frenkel or Alexandre Frenel, was an Israeli painter, sculptor and teacher. He was one of the leading Jewish artists of the School of Paris, l’École de Paris and its chief practitioner in Is ...

, Israel, France * Helen Margaret George, England *

Alberto Giacometti Alberto Giacometti (, , ; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, Drafter, draftsman and Printmaking, printmaker, who was one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century. His work was particularly influenced ...

, Switzerland * Angela Gregory, United States * Otto Gutfreund, Czechoslovakia * Minna Harkavy, United States * Bror Hjorth, Sweden * René Iché, France * Mladen Josić, Serbia * Raoul Josset, France/United States * David Karfunkle, Austria/United States * Adaline Kent, United States * Emile Lahner, Hungary * Aristide Maillol, France *

, France * Vadym Meller, Ukraine * Marguerite Milward, England *

Vera Mukhina Vera Ignatyevna Mukhina (; ; – 6 October 1953) was a Soviet sculptor and painter. She was nicknamed "the queen of Soviet sculpture". She was one of the members of the art association ‘ The Four Arts’, which existed in Moscow and Leningrad ...

, Russian Empire/USSR * Bencho Obreshkov, Bulgaria *

Dudley Pratt Dudley Pratt (June 14, 1897 – November 18, 1975) was an American sculptor. He was born in Paris, France to Boston sculptors Bela and Helen Pratt. His sculptural education included study under Charles Grafly, Antoine Bourdelle, and Alexande ...

, United States * Virginia Claflin Pratt, United States * Germaine Richier, France * Arnold Rönnebeck, Germany/United States * Ada Mae Sharpless, United States * Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Portugal * Risto Stijović, Serbia * Sreten Stojanović, Serbia * Mihailo Tomić, Serbia * Josefina de Vasconcellos, England * Anna Marie Valentien, United States * Helen Wilson, United States * Louise Lentz Woodruff, United States * Ryumon Yasuda, Japan * Teodors Zalkalns, Latvia * José Luis Zorrilla de San Martín, Uruguay 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 Pupils: From a Paris Diary."

Notes and citations

Bibliography

* Colin Lemoine, ''Antoine Bourdelle''. L'oeuvre à demeure, Paris, Paris-Musées, 2009 * Bourdelle, Émile-Antoine, "Émile-Antoine Bourdelle, Sculptures and Drawings", Perth, Western Australian Art Gallery, 1978. * Jeancolas, Claude, ''Sculpture Française'', CELIV, Paris (1992), () * Ottawa.National Gallery of Canada, "Antoine Bourdelle, 1861-1929", New York, C. E. Slatkin Galleries, 1961. * Colin Lemoine, ''Antoine Bourdelle'', Paris, Cercle d'art, 2004,() * ''Antoine Bourdelle, passeur de la modernité'', exhibition catalogue (curators Roxana Theodorescu, Juliette Laffon and Colin Lemoine / Catalogue Colin Lemoine), Bucarest, National Museum of Art, 2006 * Colin Lemoine, ''Le Fruit : une œuvre majuscule d'Antoine Bourdelle'', Ligeia, January–June 2005, n°57-58-59-60, p. 60-78 * Colin Lemoine, "...sans ce modelé à la Rodin, à la XVIIIe siècle qui beurre le tout : Bourdelle et la question d'un primitivisme occidental", ''Bulletin du musée Ingres'', May 2006, n° 78, p. 49-66 * Cléopâtre Sevastos, ''Ma vie avec Bourdelle'', Paris-Musées-Editions des Cendres, 2005 (annoted edition by Colin Lemoine) * Véronique Gautherin, ''L'Oeil et la main'' (2000) * ''Antoine Bourdelle, d'un siècle l'autre. L'eurythmie de la modernité'', exhibition catalogue by Colin Lemoine, Japan (Kitakyushu, Niigata, Takamatsu, Iwaki, Nagoya, Seoul), 2007–2008.

External links

*
Musée Bourdelle
(in French)
''Portrait of Rodin''
from Antoine Bourdelle, on the official website of the Musée Rodin.
National Art Gallery and Alexander Soutzos Museum, Bourdelle Emile-Antoine, Biography
(in English) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bourdelle, Antoine 1861 births 1929 deaths People from Montauban École des Beaux-Arts alumni Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters Art Deco sculptors Commanders of the Legion of Honour 20th-century French sculptors 20th-century French male artists 19th-century French sculptors French male sculptors 19th-century French male artists