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an image of a bronze statue of a woman holding a jugbronze statue of a woman holding a flower in her right handa bronze statue of a woman standing on a wooden basean image of a bronze statue of a woman with a hat on her headclose up of a bronze statue of a hand reaching for somethinga bronze statue of a woman carrying a potbronze statue of a boy holding a tennis racquet in his right handbronze statue of a woman holding a pot in her right handan image of a bronze statue of a man with a hat onan image of a close up of a metal object on a white surfacea metal object that is sitting on a tablean image of a bronze statue of a woman holding a juga small piece of metal with a tag on it
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Joseph BERNARD (1866–1931) Young Girl with a Jug or Water Ca…
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Estimate €15,000 - €25,000
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Description
Joseph BERNARD (1866–1931) Young Girl with a Jug or Water Carrier Model created in 1910 (produced by A. A. Hébrard between 1914 and 1934) Bronze with a nuanced brown-green patina. Signed ‘J Bernard’ on the back of the terrace. Bears the publisher’s stamp ‘Cire perdue/ A.A Hébrard’ and the annotation ‘11’ on the back of the terrace Height: 53 cm; base dimensions: 2.5 x 12.6 x 15.8 cm Related work: - Joseph Bernard, *Water Carrier*, 1912, bronze, height 175 cm, signed on the rear of the plinth ‘J.Bernard’ 1912 and bearing the foundry mark A.A.HEBRARD / PERDUE, Paris, Musée d’Orsay, inv. no. RF 3161; - Joseph Bernard, *Water Carrier*, bronze, signed and bearing the stamp ‘Cire Perdue / A.A. Hébrard’ and the number 22, Chicago, The Art Institute, inv. no. 1943.1189. Related literature: - Exhibition of works by Joseph Bernard at the Hôtel de la Revue ‘Les Arts’, in *Les Arts*, 1 August 1914, pp. 16–32; - Luc Benoit, ‘Joseph Bernard (1866–1931)’, in *Gazette des Beaux-Arts*, 1932, vol. 2, pp. 217–228; - Didier Chautant, *Research into the Life and Work of Joseph Bernard (1866–1931), French Sculptor*, thesis for the École du Louvre supervised by Jacques Thirion, Paris, 1977; - René Jullian, Joseph Bernard, published by the Fondation de Coubertin, Saint-Rémy-les-Chevreuses, 1989; no. 146, pp. 298–302, our copy cited on p. 298; - Edited by Alice Massé and Sylvie Carlier, Joseph Bernard 1866–1931. De Pierre et de Volupté, exhibition catalogue for the exhibition held from 18 October 2020 to 21 February 2021 at the Paul-Dini Museum in Villefrance-sur-Saône and from 20 March to 20 June 2021 at La Piscine– André-Diligent Museum of Art and Industry, Roubaix, Snoeck, Ghent, 2020; entry written by Valérie Montalbetti: ‘La Jeune fille à la Cruche’, pp. 220–221; - Annick Lemoine and Juliette Singer, *Le Paris de la modernité, 1905–1925*, exhibition catalogue for the exhibition held from 14 November to 14 April 1924, Paris, Petit Palais, Édition Paris Musée, 2023, cat. 317 and p. 312. Created by Joseph Bernard, this bronze sculpture depicting a young woman of sensual and graceful nudity carrying a jug in a charmingly precarious pose is undoubtedly the most iconic work by this artist, who throughout his career was attuned to feminine beauty and sought to simplify forms. The original plaster model, which welcomed visitors to the room dedicated to the 1925 Exhibition in the beautifully curated ‘Le Paris de la Modernité’, held in the winter of 2024 at the Petit Palais in Paris, serves as a reminder of the fervent enthusiasm this feminine idol—with her smooth body and balanced silhouette—inspired in the years immediately following her creation. The work, which the painter Jacques-Emile Blanche described as ‘a cry of curiosity, astonishment and admiration’, appears to have had an early version with the left arm outstretched in the years 1905–1907, a period during which feminine beauty and movement were central to the sculptor’s work. A second version was completed in 1910. Standing 184 cm tall, it was exhibited at the 1912 Salon d’Automne, where critics succumbed to its charm and marvelled at the modernity of its synthetic style: ‘…Twenty-three beautiful silhouettes, initially simplified by the half-light, soon assert themselves. The initial impression is reminiscent of Hindu statuary, so extraordinarily lifelike. Superimposed upon this is a recollection of the Aeginetan marbles and the carved rocks that Bacchus, on his Asian journey, scattered as far as the caves of the present-day Lolos. It is only upon closer inspection that the detail reveals the artist’s personality: A naked young girl returns from the fountain; slender yet supple, she carries the jug of water she has drawn; O what delightful charm, what blissful peace, what refined beauty! ’ (La Plume, 1 November 1912, p. 9/20). A bronze cast was made before 1914 and acquired by the State in 1917 for the Musée du Luxembourg: the artist thus entered the pantheon of living artists. The work was subsequently exhibited in its original size or as a small-scale version, in plaster or bronze, at all the major international and retrospective exhibitions in which the artist was represented. To name but a few: the 1913 Armory Show in New York, the Galerie des Arts in 1914, the Pavillon du Collectionneur from 1925 right up to his major retrospective in 1932 at the Musée de l’Orangerie, and, most recently, *Le Paris de la Modernité* at the Petit Palais in 2024. The sculptor, who, like many artists, faced financial difficulties, benefited, thanks to a hard-won reputation, from the attention of the great talent scout and founder of a highly renowned foundry since 1902, Adrien-Aurélien Hébrard. This shrewd and visionary man then signed a production contract with the artist in 1908 for small-scale works and dedicated his first solo exhibition to him at his gallery at 8 Rue Royale, between 4 and 23 May 1908. A limited edition of 50 copies of *Jeune fille à la cruche* (Young Girl with a Jug), in its smaller 54 cm version, was contractually agreed with Hébrard, but ultimately only 36 copies were produced by 1934. Our bronze bears the number 11. The material enhances the smooth, polished appearance of the young woman’s skin, upon which subtle plays of light accentuate the vibrancy of her movement and the modernity of her streamlined forms.
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Auction time 09/12/2026 at 1:00 PM
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Lot description modified on 07/07/2026 at 8:58 PM
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