151 - BOURDELLE (Antoine) (1861–1929)

BOURDELLE (Antoine) (1861–1929) Signed autograph letter Autograph letter signed "A. Bourdelle," Paris, June 8, 1920, 1 page and ½, small in-4. He thanks the recipient for his “such a beautiful book”: “[...] I haven’t read much of it, but the beauty of it is immediately apparent [...]” He hopes to come visit and work with his students. “[...] Have you seen R [Raymond] Duncan’s painted canvases and his tapestries: very intriguing? He is exhibiting at 64 rue de la Boëtie [...]”. Antoine Bourdelle was a French sculptor. From the age of 13, he worked in the workshop of his father, a carpenter and cabinetmaker, and created his first wood carvings. He showed a talent for drawing at a very young age and trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse and then in Paris; in 1884, he joined the studio of the sculptor Alexandre Falguière, which he left two years later. He rented a modest studio on Impasse du Maine (now the Bourdelle Museum) and worked as an assistant to Auguste Rodin from 1893 to 1908. Beginning in 1900, Antoine Bourdelle broke away from his master’s aesthetic and established his own style with his *Head of Apollo*. He held his first solo exhibition in Paris in 1905 at the Hébrard Gallery. He began teaching at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. Bourdelle’s graphic work is extensive and is largely preserved at the Bourdelle Museum.