Émile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) - Lot 23

Émile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) Left hand of the Great Warrior of Montauban, 1898 Bronze proof, no. 1 Susse lost-wax casting Signed and numbered at the base on the back "© BY BOURDELLE N°1". Founder's mark on base and back: "SUSSE Fondeur Paris". Monogrammed on base right 58 x 43 x 23.5 cm Provenance: New York, Recanati Collection La Main Gauche du Grand Guerrier de Montauban is taken from the Monument aux Combattants et aux Défenseurs du Tarn-et-Garonne de 1870 et 1871, commissioned from Bourdelle by the Société des Anciens Combattants de Montauban in 1895. This first major commission for the sculptor was the subject of numerous studies, with fragments of the monumental composition becoming genuine works of "independent existence" (1990, Orsay), such as La Main. This numbered copy (1), cast by Susse, comes from the Recanati collection and is listed as number 199 in the second English-language version of the catalog of sculptures published by Ionel Jianou and Michel Dufet (p.84). Five other proofs are known to exist, including two at the Musée Bourdelle and one at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and two more in private collections. A plaster edition of Le Main gauche du Grand Guerrier de Montauban is also in the Musée Bourdelle. Related literature: - Bourdelle, galerie Claude Bernard, Paris, 1967. - Jianou, Ionel and Dufet, Michel, Bourdelle, 2nd edition in English with completed and numbered sculpture catalog, Arted, 1978, no. 199. - Le corps en morceaux, Musée d'Orsay, 1990. - Susse Frères, 150 years of sculpture 1837-1987, Pierre Cadet, Susse Frères, Paris, 1992. - Staub, Helena, Bourdelle et ses élèves : Giacometti, Richier, Gutfreund ; musée Bourdelle, Paris, October 28, 1998-February 7, 1999, p.67, no. 26, repr. (Bronze proof, Rhodia Dufet-Bourdelle collection) - De bruit et de fureur, Bourdelle sculpteur et photographe, exhibition catalog, Montauban, musée Ingres, June 24-October 9, 2016, Paris, musée Bourdelle, October 27, 2016-January 29, 2017, Éditions Le Passage, 2016, p.209, cat.103 (Plaster from musée Bourdelle)