BY ALFRED BOUCHER, CIRCA 1900

The present bust, emblematic of the nocturnal Convolvulus flower, is a truncated version of a work first exhibited by Alfred Boucher (d. 1934) at the Paris Salon in 1896 (whereabouts now unknown). The following year, Boucher exhibited a very similar work, titled Aux Champs, now conserved in the museum at Prayssac. Both works depict a naked woman from the navel up, emerging from roughly-hewn marble. Contemporary critics of Boucher looked unfavourably upon the 'unfinished' aspects of these works, however, not only was the distinctive style later to influence Boucher's student, Camille Claudel, but it can also be compared with some of Auguste Rodin's expressive works. Navel-length versions of this work were sold Sotheby's New York, The Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Collection, 26 May 1994, lot 68 ($101,500) and Sotheby's New York, 2 November 2001, lot 167 ($126,750).