Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, 1891-1915 Maternite, bronze carved in… - Fine Decorative Arts & Jewellery - Sotheby's

Lot No.

***

Description:

Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, 1891-1915 Maternite, bronze carved in Seravazza marble 1913, cast in bronze c. 1965 The subject of the mother and child was a popular one among early 20th century avant-garde European sculptors, whose dedication to 'primitive art' was matched by their address to primal relationships and emotions. Continental artists such as Alexander Archipenko and Constantin Brancusi and British contemporaries Jacob Epstein and Eric Gill all carved modernist madonnas in the pre-war years, while Gaudier-Brzeska himself made several. In addition to the present work his catalogue includes a plaster of 1913 (lost), the Portland stone Maternity (also known as Caritas, 1914, Musee des Provenance: Purchased by Miss C I Black of Toorak, thence by descent Catalogue Note Exhibited (possibly) London Group second exhibition, Goupil Gallery, London, March 1914, cat. 111 (marble) Twentieth century art: a review of modern movements, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 8 May-20 June 1914, cat. 156 (marble) The new movement in art. Exhibition of representative works selected and arranged by Mr Roger Fry, Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Birmingham (July); Heal & Son's Mansard Gallery, London, 1917 (marble) Henri Gaudier-Brzeska memorial exhibition, Leicester Galleries, London, May-June 1918, cat. 35 (marble) Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, sculptor 1891-1915, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, 15 October-20 November 1983 ; City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, 26 November 1983-7 January 1984; York City Art Gallery, 14 January-19 February 1984, cat. 40 (marble) Modern British Art, Sotheby's, London, 2 June 2004, lot 50 (another cast) Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Browse & Darby, London, 18 June-25 July 2008 (another cast) Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Centre Pompidou Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris, 24 June-14 September 2009 (marble) Literature Sebastiano Barassi, 'The modern cult of replicas : a Rieglian analysis of values in replication', Tate Papers (online journal), Autumn 2007 (www.tate.org.uk/research/tateresearch/ tatepapers/07autumn/barassi.htm) Christan Briend and Doina Lemny (eds.), Henri Gaudier-Brzeska dans les collections du Centre Pompidou Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris : Editions du Centre Pompidou, 2009 Horace Brodzky, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska 1891-1915, London: Faber & Faber, 1933, pp. 176, 180 Roger Cole, Burning to speak: the life and art of Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Oxford: Phaidon, 1978, pp. 33, 46, 84 (marble illus.), 85 (marble illus.), 86 Judith Collins, The Omega Workshops, London: Secker & Warburg, 1983, p. 71 H.S. Ede, A life of Gaudier-Brzeska, London: William Heinemann, 1930, p. 196 H.S. Ede, Savage Messiah, London, Gordon Fraser, 1971, pp. 154, 168 (marble illus.) Roger Fry, 'Gaudier Brzeska', Burlington Magazine, XXIX, 1916, pp. 209-210 Jeremy Lewison (ed.), Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, sculptor 1891-1915, Cambridge: Kettle's Yard, 1983, p. 44 Vincent Noce, 'La tentation sterile de la reproduction', Liberation, 31 July 2009 Roger Secretain, Un sculpteur 'maudit' : Gaudier-Brzeska 1891-1915, Paris : Le Temps, 1979, pp. 126 (another cast illus.), 168, 308 Evelyn Silber, Gaudier-Brzeska : life and art, London: Thames & Hudson, 1996, pp. 41, 43, 83, 94, 111, 121, 125, (marble illus. plates 83, 84, colour plate VII) [1] Roger Secretain, Un sculpteur 'maudit': Gaudier-Brzeska 1891-1915, Paris : Le Temps, 1979, p. 168 [2] Roger Cole, Burning to speak: the life and art of Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Oxford: Phaidon, 1978, p. 46 [3] Evelyn Silber, Gaudier-Brzeska: life and art, London: Thames & Hudson, 1996, p.125 [4] Ezra Pound, Gaudier-Brzeska: a memoir, London: John Lane, 1916, p. 160 [5] Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, 'Allied Artists Association Ltd Holland Park Hall', quoted ibid., p. 27

Estimate:

***

Price:

***

Category:

Sculpture/Statuary: Figures/Groups