77 - Charles Henri Joseph Cordier (1827–1905)

Charles Henri Joseph Cordier (1827–1905) Singing Moor from Algiers Model created in 1856; our example cast before 1870 Bronze with silver and gold patinas Signed “CORDIER” beneath the left shoulder H. 74 x W. 46 x D. 27 cm Provenance: former collection of Claude Nicolas Edouard Tassard (1807–1888), magistrate and close associate of Baron Haussmann; by descent Throughout his life, Charles Cordier was interested in the study of human diversity. While maintaining the scientific approach of ethnographic study, he sought to show the public, in the wake of the abolition of slavery, “the ubiquity of beauty.” Throughout his travels, Cordier, as a humanist, boldly challenged the conventional wisdom of that conformist fin-de-siècle era to reveal the beautiful uniqueness of peoples around the world. Drawing on these “morphotype” studies he brought back from his travels, Charles Cordier went on to create a collection of sculptures combining polychrome marble, onyx, enamel, bronze, and silver—works of great innovation and opulence. Related literature: -Ethnographic Sculpture: From the Hottentot Venus to Gauguin’s Tehura, exhibition catalog, Paris, Musée d’Orsay, March 16–June 12, 1994, Paris, RMN, 1994; another example (in marble) is listed under Cat. No. 42, p. 56, pp. 51–64; -Christine Barthe, Laure de Margerie, Charles Cordier (1827–1905): The Other and the Elsewhere, Paris, Ed. de la Martinière, 2004, models listed under nos. 360–383, pp. 188–191.