Joseph-Antoine Bernard (1866-1931) - Lot 124

Lot 124
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35000 - 40000 EUR
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Joseph-Antoine Bernard (1866-1931) - Lot 124
Joseph-Antoine Bernard (1866-1931) Jeune fille à sa toilette, also known as Jeune fille se coiffant assise Model created in 1912 Bronze with brown-green patina Signed "J. Bernard" on the back, numbered "IV" below Bears the founder's stamp "CIRE PERDUE C. VALSUANI H. 65 cm The theme of the young girl styling her hair has been treated many times by Isère artist Joseph Bernard. This subject gave the sculptor the opportunity to work on the female body, sublimating its plastic canons with his refined, synthetic style. Similar in composition to Jeune fille se coiffant debout and Jeune danseuse, also known as Jeune fille à la draperie, the work presents a graceful, vibrant composition that won the admiration of critics when the plaster model was presented at the Salon d'Automne in 1912, with the following praise in the press: "...{he achieves} the miracle of combining Greek rhythm with thick Egyptian grace, without ever departing from the most immediate modernism. "(Tabarant, "Au Salon d'Automne", in Le Soir, October 9, 1912, p.2). In his description of the sculptures presented at the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et des industries appliquées in 1925, Paul Vitry speaks for a public still charmed by the subject:"It is really in the work of this artist, whose plastic research in the famous pieces Jeune fille à la cruche and Jeune fille assise au bras levé is akin to the art of Bourdelle, Maillol and Despiau, that we find, it seems, the formula of the happiest and most complete decorative sculpture presented at the Exhibition". Following the presentation of the plaster model at the 1912 Salon d'Automne, two bronze editions were initiated, one on the original scale (H. 157 cm, 5 copies to date), the other on a reduced scale (H. 64 cm). Our bronze proof corresponds to this small-scale state. The Valsuani edition originally envisaged 25 bronze proofs. However, the artist's 1989 catalog raisonné indicates that the edition was limited to 18 copies. Related work : Joseph Bernard, Jeune fille à sa toilette, ou Jeune fille se coiffant assise, circa 1912, bronze, signed and stamped by the founder Alexis Rudier, H. 156 x 57 x 56.5 cm, Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts, inv. 1937-38. Related literature - Didier Chautant, Recherches sur la vie et l'œuvre de Joseph Bernard 1866-1931 : sculpteur français, Paris, 1977, sn, model listed as n°151, p. 66, pp. 70-71 ; - René Jullian, Joseph Bernard, Saint-Rémy-les-Che- vreuses, Ed. Fondation de Coubertin, 1989, model number 183, p. 310. - Sylvie Carlier, Alice Massé, Joseph Bernard, de pierre et de volupté, cat. exp., Villefranche sur Saône, Musée Paul Dini, October 18, 2020-April 25, 2021, Roubaix, La Piscine-musée d'Art et d'Industrie André Diligent, March 20-June 20, 2021, Gand, Editions Snoeck, 2020, pp. 260-265;
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