Emile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) Kissing the Rose or the Dream, second proof Bronze proof with a brown patina shaded with green Signed "Emile Bourdelle" on the left shoulder Bearing on the reverse the founder's stamp 'Thiébaut Frères, Fumière et Gavignot, St Paris' and the inscription '2nd proof Dimensions : h. 31 cm The copy of the purchase invoice of 1916 from Thiébaut Frères, Fumière et Gavignot is attached Related works : - Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, Baiser aux Volubilis, 1900, size 41.5 x 41.6 x 48 cm, bronze, cast by Valsuani, no. 2, Paris, Musée Bourdelle, MB br. 418 ; - Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, The Kiss, marble, 1907, signed Bourdelle, H. : 24 cm, Montauban, Musée Ingres, MI.99.3.1 ; - Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, Masque de jeune fille, Le Baiser, hard porcelain biscuit, H.42 x 54 cm, Limoges, Musée national Adrien Dubouché, n°inv. ADL9502. Related literature: Ionel Jianou, Michel Dufet, Bourdelle, Paris, ARTED, 1975, model listed on p. 87 Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, "Devenir Bourdelle", in Revue de l'Art, 1994, n°104, pp.30-39. The artist Antoine Emile Bourdelle discovered sculpture with his father, a cabinetmaker in Montauban. Having obtained a prize and a pension from the cities of Toulouse and Montauban, the young man tried his luck and moved to Paris in 1884. He attended Falguière's classes at the École des Beaux-arts while immediately exhibiting works at the Salon. However, he quickly broke away from the traditional training at the École des Beaux-Arts, and experienced difficult years where he earned his living by making busts. In the nineties, he received the life-saving support of the widow of the historian Michelet and met Rodin who integrated him into his studio in 1893. He became one of his most appreciated collaborators and the influence of the master was felt for a long time in his work, particularly in his art of portraiture and the representation of the female body decorated with accessories. His sculptures at the turn of the century were based on a symbolism tinged with Art Nouveau, as is perfectly evident in the Kiss with a Rose. The work, inspired by the Rodinian theme of the Kiss, reflects the quest for voluptuousness dear to Bourdelle. It is also part of a body of work that began in 1899 with the presentation of a marble entitled Visage d'Amour (Face of Love) at the Salon national des Beaux-Arts and then in 1905 at the Galerie Hébrard. The model of this woman's face, languidly tilted backwards, eyes closed and lips joined to offer or receive an invisible kiss, was in fact used for many works with variations, published in different materials - sandstone, biscuit, marble or bronze - and under many titles: Amoureuse, le Baiser à la rose, le Baiser aux Volubilis or even le Rêve, the title indicated on the invoice that accompanied our bronze. Here he associates an image of the sensual woman with a floral and frivolous attribute. Here, the resolutely impressionistic treatment is wonderfully rendered by the great quality of the Frères Thiébaut's casting, the softness of the modelling and the barely indicated anatomy. This search for dreaminess bears witness to the influence of other prestigious contemporary artists, such as Carrière or Rosso. Our bronze, from a model dated 1907, was cast in only three rare examples by the Thiébaut Frères and Fumière et Gavignot foundries; ours is dated 1916.