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Artist or Maker: Emile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929)

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Description: Le fruit, grand modèle
signed, dated and inscribed 'Le Fruit - 1902-1911 Emile-Antoine Bourdelle'; numbered and stamped with the foundry mark 'Susse Fondeur Paris E.A. N o 2' and inscribed '© by Musée Bourdelle' (on the back of the base)
bronze with dark green patina
Height: 89 in. (226 cm.)
Conceived in the original size circa 1902 and enlarged in this size in 1911; this bronze version cast in 1969 in a numbered edition of eight plus two artist's proofs

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Provenance: Acquired from the estate of the artist by the present owner in November 1976.

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Published: P. Descargues, Bourdelle, Paris, 1954, pl. 42 (the smaller version illustrated).
M. Seuphor, La sculpture de ce siècle, Neuchâtel, 1959, p. 47 (the smaller version illustrated).
I. Jianou & M. Dufet, Bourdelle, Paris, 1965, p. 86 (another cast illustrated pl. 23).
C.M. Lavrillier & M. Dufet, Bourdelle et la critique de son temps, Paris, 1979, pp. 118-119 (another cast illustrated).
P. Cannon-Brookes, Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, London, 1983, pp. 43-44 (the smaller version illustrated fig. 61).

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Notes: The Musée Bourdelle, Paris has confirmed the authenticity of this work.

Conceived in 1906, Le fruit displays a grace and beauty that instantly made it one of Bourdelle's most successful works. He continued to make slight alterations as he developed the subject over the course of the next five years until he enlarged it in 1911 to the present size and exhibited it at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. The sinuous rhythms of the young girl in Le fruit create a subtle balance to the composition that rivals that of later works such as Penelope or Héraclès, archer.

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