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AUGUSTE BARTHOLDI (1834-1904) Head of America circa 1856-1863 Patinated plaster in preparation for the Bruat monument, Colmar (Minor accidents) Head of America, sculpture in patinated plaster by Auguste Bartholdi, circa 1856-1863 HEIGHT 58 CM - H. 22,8 IN. Provenance By oral tradition, acquired by the previous owner directly from the descendants of the Bartholdi family. Related works - Auguste Bartholdi, Statue de l'amiral Bruat, 1857-1864, bronze, Champs de Mars, Colmar ; - Auguste Bartholdi, Projet pour le Monument Bruat, tinted plaster model, 1856, Musée Bartholdi, Colmar; - Auguste Bartholdi, Tête de l'Afrique, Fragment de l'ancienne fontaine, pink sandstone, 1863, Musée Bartholdi, Colmar; - Auguste Bartholdi, Head of America, Fragment of the old fountain, pink sandstone, 1863, Musée Bartholdi, Colmar. Related literature - Stanislas Lami, Dictionnaire des sculpteurs de l'École française au dix-neuvième siècle, t. I, edition of p. 65 ; - Jacques Betz, Bartholdi, Les éditions de Minuits, Paris, 1954, pp. 46, 47 and 49; - Robert Belot and Daniel Bermond, Bartholdi, Perrin, 2004, pp.117-119; - Robert Belot, Bartholdi, l'homme qui inventa la liberté, collection Biographies et mythes historiques, Ellipses, 2019, pp.159-169, 314, 527. Of rare modernity and powerful forms, this plaster head of America corresponds to the definitive state of the Allegory of the New Continent. America is "represented by a young man whose appearance still has something of the savage about it; with his left foot he pushes aside old idols, under his elbow a cogwheel symbolizes industry, and an oar, the genius of navigation". His forehead is topped with a star. This star originally adorned the forehead of the woman who was to represent Europe "as a symbol of the light of which Europe is the center". While it has been said that this added star was a Masonic sign, a discreet sign of Bruat's commitment to Freemasonry, its transfer from the forehead of "Old Europe" to "Young America" takes on a highly symbolic and precursory dimension in the gesture of Bartholdi, who, from this time onwards, wished to convey a humanist message through art. More than a decade before Bartholdi, close to the abolitionist movement, became close to Édouard de Laboulaye, a moderate republican who saw America as a model of liberty in 1865 and proposed his Statue of Liberty project, he presented here an optimistic image of the Continent, symbolizing the democratic ideal and the welcome of immigrants.

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AUGUSTE BARTHOLDI (1834-1904) Head of America circa 1856-1863 Patinated plaster in preparation for the Bruat monument, Colmar (Minor accidents) Head of America, sculpture in patinated plaster by Auguste Bartholdi, circa 1856-1863 HEIGHT 58 CM - H. 22,8 IN. Provenance By oral tradition, acquired by the previous owner directly from the descendants of the Bartholdi family. Related works - Auguste Bartholdi, Statue de l'amiral Bruat, 1857-1864, bronze, Champs de Mars, Colmar ; - Auguste Bartholdi, Projet pour le Monument Bruat, tinted plaster model, 1856, Musée Bartholdi, Colmar; - Auguste Bartholdi, Tête de l'Afrique, Fragment de l'ancienne fontaine, pink sandstone, 1863, Musée Bartholdi, Colmar; - Auguste Bartholdi, Head of America, Fragment of the old fountain, pink sandstone, 1863, Musée Bartholdi, Colmar. Related literature - Stanislas Lami, Dictionnaire des sculpteurs de l'École française au dix-neuvième siècle, t. I, edition of p. 65 ; - Jacques Betz, Bartholdi, Les éditions de Minuits, Paris, 1954, pp. 46, 47 and 49; - Robert Belot and Daniel Bermond, Bartholdi, Perrin, 2004, pp.117-119; - Robert Belot, Bartholdi, l'homme qui inventa la liberté, collection Biographies et mythes historiques, Ellipses, 2019, pp.159-169, 314, 527. Of rare modernity and powerful forms, this plaster head of America corresponds to the definitive state of the Allegory of the New Continent. America is "represented by a young man whose appearance still has something of the savage about it; with his left foot he pushes aside old idols, under his elbow a cogwheel symbolizes industry, and an oar, the genius of navigation". His forehead is topped with a star. This star originally adorned the forehead of the woman who was to represent Europe "as a symbol of the light of which Europe is the center". While it has been said that this added star was a Masonic sign, a discreet sign of Bruat's commitment to Freemasonry, its transfer from the forehead of "Old Europe" to "Young America" takes on a highly symbolic and precursory dimension in the gesture of Bartholdi, who, from this time onwards, wished to convey a humanist message through art. More than a decade before Bartholdi, close to the abolitionist movement, became close to Édouard de Laboulaye, a moderate republican who saw America as a model of liberty in 1865 and proposed his Statue of Liberty project, he presented here an optimistic image of the Continent, symbolizing the democratic ideal and the welcome of immigrants.

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ITALIAN COLLECTION, 19th CENTURY, AFTER PIETRO TACCA (1577- 1640) Chained captives Pair of bronzes with brown and gilded patinas On wooden bases painted in imitation of marble and porphyry Pair of bronze sculptures with brown and gilded patina, 19th century Italian school, after Pietro Tacca HEIGHT 44 CM - H. 17,3 IN. Reference work Pietro Tacca, Monument to Ferdinand Medici, 1620-1623, Piazzetta della Darsena, Livorno Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904) Born in Colmar, where his family had settled in the 17th century, Auguste Bartholdi trained in Ary Scheffer's studio, who recognized his talent for sculpture, which he then studied with Jean-François Soitoux. After a highly formative trip to the Orient with painter Jean-Léon Gérôme in the 1850s, Bartholdi returned to France and took part in a number of public competitions. He was particularly sought after by his native town, for which he erected a monument to General Rapp in 1854. In 1857, the town of Colmar commissioned him to erect a monument to Colmerian Admiral Armand Joseph Bruat, a hero of the French Navy and the Crimean War who had died two years earlier. While complying with the Colmar mayor's wish to erect the municipality's very first continuous fountain, the sculptor conceived an ambitious five-part initial monument project: the figure of the victorious admiral stands at his command post on the ship's deck, holding a telescope and a map with an anchor at his feet. The statue overlooks a circular basin adorned with the city's four coats of arms framed by a sea monster, and divided into four sections on which allegorical figures inspired by antiquity recline. The water is to flow through four antique trireme prows. The project was immediately approved by the municipality, but the lack of financial prospects led to objections and delays. As the project had to be simplified, Bartholdi made a number of modifications, notably the figures in the basin, symbolizing the four continents the Admiral had travelled to as a servant of France. Again for reasons of cost, in 1861 the Committee asked Bartholdi to abandon these allegorical figures, which were ultimately not removed thanks to a fortunate anonymous donation (actually from his mother). In 1863, Bartholdi exhibited the model at the Salon. The monument was finally erected in bronze for the statue of Bruat, and in Vosges sandstone for the elements of the basin, and inaugurated on August 21, 1864. Unfortunately, the monument in its original state is no longer known, as it was partially destroyed on August 30, 1940 by the German occupying forces. The heads of the Continents were salvaged, however, and are now housed in the Bartholdi Museum in Colmar. In 1958, the monument was rebuilt around Bruat's bronze statue, the only original element preserved, on a fountain surrounded by new stone allegories by sculptor Gérard Choain and architect Michel Porte. These two heads in patinated plaster correspond to the preparatory and final versions for these heads of Africa and America, which underwent a veritable rollercoaster ride from conception to preservation. These two works are rare testimonies to the artist's creative process, and fortunately complete the meagre corpus of works, along with the preparatory model in patinated plaster and the sandstone heads of the Continents preserved at the Musée Bartholdi in Colmar, concerning the conception of this monument, which is considered a milestone in the artist's career. As the artist's specialist Robert Belot points out, Bartholdi conceived not only this monument to a local hero, but also his first work "with a philosophical resonance and global scope", conveying in it the message, to anyone who would see it, of his political commitment to the struggle against slavery, his support for abolitionist thinking and universalist values.

AUGUSTE BARTHOLDI (1834-1904) Head of Africa circa 1863 Patinated plaster in preparation for the Bruat monument, Colmar (Minor accidents) Head of Africa, sculpture in patinated plaster by Auguste Bartholdi, circa 1863 HEIGHT 58 CM - H. 22,8 IN. Provenance By oral tradition, acquired by the previous owner directly from the descendants of the Bartholdi family. Related works - Auguste Bartholdi, Statue de l'amiral Bruat, 1857-1864, bronze, Champs de Mars, Colmar ; - Auguste Bartholdi, Projet pour le Monument Bruat, tinted plaster model, 1856, Musée Bartholdi, Colmar; - Auguste Bartholdi, Tête de l'Afrique, Fragment de l'ancienne fontaine, pink sandstone, 1863, Musée Bartholdi, Colmar; - Auguste Bartholdi, Head of America, Fragment of the old fountain, pink sandstone, 1863, Musée Bartholdi, Colmar. Related literature - Stanislas Lami, Dictionnaire des sculpteurs de l'École française au dix-neuvième siècle, t. I, edition of p. 65 ; - Jacques Betz, Bartholdi, Les éditions de Minuits, Paris, 1954, pp. 46, 47 and 49; - Robert Belot and Daniel Bermond, Bartholdi, Perrin, 2004, pp.117-119; - Robert Belot, Bartholdi, l'homme qui inventa la liberté, collection Biographies et mythes historiques, Ellipses, 2019, pp.159-169, 314, 527. This head represents a black man with powerful, hard features, frozen in an expression that is at once dignified, proud and bitter. In the abolitionist context of the 1860s, Bartholdi offered both a powerful image of the African victim of slavery but determined to free himself from its oppressive chains, and his first work conveying his political commitment and attachment to universalist values. The impact of this representation of Africa was also immediate for certain personalities adhering to the same values, such as Dr. Schweitzer, physician and philosopher, future Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1952, whose Bartholdi Museum preserves a moving testimony, entitled 'Am I in the grip of a dream or a hallucination' and fully transcribed in Robert Belot's 2019 biography: "... What I look upon as the noblest jewel in Colmar is "le Nègre" (a term of the time transcribed verbatim to remain faithful to the original text) who with his hands crossed above his knees the deep dazed gaze is lying at the foot of the Admiral. Yes, this "Nègre" is the noblest, most original work of our sculptural age. I know of no statue that has caused me such marvellous emotion, that moves me so deeply, to the very depths of my soul. The truth of nature and the truth of the ideal are blended to such a marvelous degree...".