Joseph Antoine Bernard (1866-1931) - Lot 61

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  3. Joseph Antoine Bernard (1866-1931) - Lot 61
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Lot n° 61
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Estimation :
30000 - 40000 EUR
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Result : 77 440EUR
Joseph Antoine Bernard (1866-1931) - Lot 61
Joseph Antoine Bernard (1866-1931) Young Girl with a Jug (Small Nature State), 1910 Bronze proof, n°8 Lost wax casting Claude Valsuani, between 1919 and 1925 Founder's stamp (lower back of the jug): "CIRE/C.VALSUANI/PERDUE Finely engraved signature and numbering (on the back of the stone base) : " 8 J. Bernard 8 " Without base : 60,5 x 21 x 32 cm With base : 67,5 cm Provenance : Private collection "Today we no longer perceive how new and modern the synthetic and formal character of this figure was, and its refusal of anecdote. "1 The emblematic work of the sculptor Joseph Bernard, the Young Girl with a Jug, also entitled Water Bearer, was exhibited for the first time at the Salon d'Automne in 1912. It was a great success, often compared to the success of Maillol's La Méditerranéenne, in 1905, at the same Salon. The enthusiasm of the critics for this large female model led the sculptor to exhibit it at the International Exhibition at the Armory Show in New York the following year, in 1913. In the gallery of French sculptures and paintings, La Jeune Fille à la Cruche was presented alongside works by Maillol, Lehmbruck and Brancusi. All of them show a desire to escape from the influence of Rodin and a search for modernity in the plasticity rather than in the subject. The first known version dates from 1905 and is 54 cm high. Hébrard produced a first bronze proof of it, measuring 184 cm, from the plaster cast exhibited at the Salon d'Automne and at the Armory Show. La Jeune Fille à la Cruche (Young Girl with a Jug), a small life-size state measuring 64 cm, is a reduction of the large model exhibited. Joseph Bernard renews the subject of the water carrier, which was widely developed in the history of art and in particular in nineteenth-century sculpture. Here, the body is bare, highlighting the youthful features and accentuating the femininity of the body. The posture is reminiscent of the water carrier painted by Puvis de Chavannes in Vision Antique, an oil on canvas that Joseph Bernard most likely saw in the monumental staircase in the Palais des Arts in Lyon, when he was a student at the École des Beaux-Arts, before arriving in Paris in 1896. The jug, symbol of fertility, participates in the rhythmic game: its weight is harmoniously counterbalanced by the ample movement of the left arm. The feet voluntarily inwards add to the search for rhythm. Through the calm and decorative grace that emanates from this young girl, Joseph Bernard makes a radical break with the lyrical impetus of Rodin's work, an influence from which he sought to extract himself from his Parisian beginnings. Joseph Bernard would develop the theme of dance in other figures that would take up the canon announced by the Young Girl with a Pitcher, such as The Dancing Faun, another remarkable model of the sculptor. The subject of the water carrier would continue to inspire the greatest sculptors of the 20th century, in particular Pablo Gargallo and Ossip Zadkine, both of whom also contributed to the revival of direct carving. La Jeune Fille à la Cruche was quickly associated with the eminently modern work of the decorator Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, with whom he formed a deep friendship in the early 1920s. The antique grace fits perfectly into the modern decor: it was exhibited at the Salon des Arts décoratifs et industriels modernes in 1925, in the Hôtel du Collectionneur - Pavillon Ruhlmann. A general atmosphere of elegance emanates from it: the pure lines and the care given to the smooth surfaces combine with the softness and sensuality of Bernard's sculpture. The work was a real success. The catalog raisonné published by Van Oest in 1932 2, the day after the sculptor's death, and drawn up by Joseph Bernard's wife, already mentions the bronze version of La Jeune Fille à la Cruche, État petite nature, of which 25 were produced, while the work published much later in 1989 3 lists 29, two of which have a golden patina. In the 1928 catalog 4, the buyer of our work, numbered "8" twice, is Mr. Besse. Its last owner was an American collector. The decorative dimension of this eighth print cast by Valsuani is amplified by the stone base. Exceptionally among the known prints of the Young Girl with a Jug, a small nature state, the figure rests directly on a stone terrace. According to Pascale Grémont-Gervaise, a specialist on the artist, "This copy is quite remarkable and particular: the feet of the girl do not rest on a bronze terrace, but on a stone base. It is one of the first ten prints of this work that was very successful. She believes that the cast was made in
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