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拍品專文
Bourdelle did not have his first great artistic success until he was almost fifty years old, when he exhibited Héraklès archer in the Salon of 1910. He began his career as a student of Jules Dalou and worked as carver for Auguste Rodin for fifteen years. Bourdelle's early work was strongly influenced by Rodin, who was the only sculptor at the time whose work provided a serious alternative to the polished surfaces and easy sentiment of academic sculpture. By 1900, however, Bourdelle had established his own manner, as his sculpture moved away from the sensual, light-catching modeling of Rodin to an overtly heroic and monumental conception of the figure. "Whereas Rodin followed a romantic realist literary tradition which saw human frailty, misery and fallibility as absorbingly interesting and in some sense sacred, Bourdelle was beginning to express a contemporary yearning for a race of supermen" (D. Hall, "Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, Heroic Post-Modernist," Bourdelle, Pioneer of the Future, exh. cat., Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, 1989, p. 31).
Bourdelle signaled his divergence from the aesthetic of Rodin and his followers in his Tête d'Apollon, executed in 1900 while he was still working with the older master. Bourdelle's emerging ideal was essentially classical in spirit, and it is interesting to note that Aristide Maillol, his contemporary, was also guided by the dream of the archaic past, although Bourdelle's art is vigorously active and heroic in contrast to the idyllic character of Maillol's sculpture. Bourdelle "preferred the architectural and spiritualized conception of Egyptian sculpture and Greek art of the archaic period to the idealism and the masterful and luminous modelling of the age of Phydias. He appreciated the 'ardent wisdom' of Romanesque and Gothic churches more than the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance" (M. Dufet, "Bourdelle the Forerunner," Sculpture of Antoine Bourdelle, exh. cat., Hirschl and Adler Galleries, Inc., New York, 1970, p. 14).
There is no question that Bourdelle intended to create the perfect form with the subject of Héraklès archer. In creating this work, he strayed from the harsh naturalism that saturated the studios and salons at the time, as he chose to consider sculpture only in monumental parameters, constructed by bold planar forms and pronounced features.
In this present work, Bourdelle harkens back to Herakles’ triumph of the Stymphalian birds, a valiant epoch rooted in Greek mythology. Adorning his model with god-like invincibility, the artist enlivens the sculpture with vivid expressionism and energy. Bourdelle’s theatricality of form “is an effective symbol of human force, appealing at the most universal human level to the empathetic faculty and arousing a primitive admiration for size and strength” (exh. cat., op. cit., 1989, p. 27). Bourdelle catapults the classical subject into the modern age by provoking a certain human empathy, exhibiting anatomical realism—both traits inherited from his mentor and contemporary Rodin.
Upon acceptance to the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, the Héraklès model was met with abundant scrutiny by Bourdelle’s contemporaries. The sculpture was exiled to an ill-lit corner of the exhibition space. Combating the poor placement and dim lighting, Bourdelle gilded the full-scale cast, allowing the Archer to illuminate from the shadows (P. Cannon-Brookes, op. cit., p. 63).
Héraklès archer was eventually heralded as the paradigm of Bourdelle’s career, shifting the artist’s technique into the convention of architectonic idealized sculpture. Bourdelle remained servant to the parameters and balanced ideals of architecture, rooted in the Greek canons of sculpture. Creating new paths for dramatic form, Bourdelle’s known fiery temperament and audacity for artistic expression is further contrasted by the balanced and contemplative construction of planar form in this rendition of the “Archer.” The static motif of the lunging man locked in a moment of calculated restraint is complemented by the vibrancy of a hidden current, which flows through the carefully crafted angles and spaces. Héraklès’ restrained demeanor, locked in a moment of precise concentration, is lightened with the apparent ease of god-like strength.
Bourdelle signaled his divergence from the aesthetic of Rodin and his followers in his Tête d'Apollon, executed in 1900 while he was still working with the older master. Bourdelle's emerging ideal was essentially classical in spirit, and it is interesting to note that Aristide Maillol, his contemporary, was also guided by the dream of the archaic past, although Bourdelle's art is vigorously active and heroic in contrast to the idyllic character of Maillol's sculpture. Bourdelle "preferred the architectural and spiritualized conception of Egyptian sculpture and Greek art of the archaic period to the idealism and the masterful and luminous modelling of the age of Phydias. He appreciated the 'ardent wisdom' of Romanesque and Gothic churches more than the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance" (M. Dufet, "Bourdelle the Forerunner," Sculpture of Antoine Bourdelle, exh. cat., Hirschl and Adler Galleries, Inc., New York, 1970, p. 14).
There is no question that Bourdelle intended to create the perfect form with the subject of Héraklès archer. In creating this work, he strayed from the harsh naturalism that saturated the studios and salons at the time, as he chose to consider sculpture only in monumental parameters, constructed by bold planar forms and pronounced features.
In this present work, Bourdelle harkens back to Herakles’ triumph of the Stymphalian birds, a valiant epoch rooted in Greek mythology. Adorning his model with god-like invincibility, the artist enlivens the sculpture with vivid expressionism and energy. Bourdelle’s theatricality of form “is an effective symbol of human force, appealing at the most universal human level to the empathetic faculty and arousing a primitive admiration for size and strength” (exh. cat., op. cit., 1989, p. 27). Bourdelle catapults the classical subject into the modern age by provoking a certain human empathy, exhibiting anatomical realism—both traits inherited from his mentor and contemporary Rodin.
Upon acceptance to the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, the Héraklès model was met with abundant scrutiny by Bourdelle’s contemporaries. The sculpture was exiled to an ill-lit corner of the exhibition space. Combating the poor placement and dim lighting, Bourdelle gilded the full-scale cast, allowing the Archer to illuminate from the shadows (P. Cannon-Brookes, op. cit., p. 63).
Héraklès archer was eventually heralded as the paradigm of Bourdelle’s career, shifting the artist’s technique into the convention of architectonic idealized sculpture. Bourdelle remained servant to the parameters and balanced ideals of architecture, rooted in the Greek canons of sculpture. Creating new paths for dramatic form, Bourdelle’s known fiery temperament and audacity for artistic expression is further contrasted by the balanced and contemplative construction of planar form in this rendition of the “Archer.” The static motif of the lunging man locked in a moment of calculated restraint is complemented by the vibrancy of a hidden current, which flows through the carefully crafted angles and spaces. Héraklès’ restrained demeanor, locked in a moment of precise concentration, is lightened with the apparent ease of god-like strength.