Provenance:
-Estate of A. A. Hébrard
-Estate of A. A. Hébrard
Comparative literature:
-John M. Hunisak, The sculptor Jules Dalou, Studies in His Style and Imagery, Garland, New York, 1977 (reprint of the author’s thesis, New York University, 1975), p. 119, fig. 68
-John M. Hunisak, The sculptor Jules Dalou, Studies in His Style and Imagery, Garland, New York, 1977 (reprint of the author’s thesis, New York University, 1975), p. 119, fig. 68
During the late 1870s Dalou did a number of female nude studies. Probably created for his own personal interest and pleasure, they were never exhibited during his lifetime and are therefore difficult to date precisely. As noted by Hunisak, these female nudes are among his finest works: ‘If the Femme surprise evokes numerous representations of Susanna, the familiar motif of crossed legs combined with the arms raised in a gesture of modesty provides the occasion for a powerful interplay of muscular torsion and the ample, rounded forms of the female flesh’. Originally in the collection of Dalou’s favourite bronze founder Hébrard, our plaster is closely related to another of similar size in the Musée du Petit Palais, Paris.