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Jospeh Bernard (Vienne, Isère, 1866 – 1931, Boulogne-sur-Seine)
Dancing faun |
Bronze
72 cm high
Signed at the back of the integral base © no. 6 J Bernard
Valsuani stamp at the back of the base
Related literature:
- Joseph Bernard, exh. cat., Paris, Musée Rodin, 1973
- Jean Bernard and al., Joseph Bernard, Paris, 1989
Bernard was the son of a stone mason and studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon before moving to Paris. Between 1892 and 1900 he exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français. After 1900 he worked towards a greater architectonic rigour and formal purity, as, for example, in Young Girl with Pitcher (bronze, 1910; Paris, Centre Pompidou), which has similarities with contemporary works by Aristide Maillol. He gradually freed himself from the decisive influence of Rodin and worked in an increasingly sober, monumental manner. Turning away from clay modelling, Bernard worked on dry plaster and directly on stone. From 1910 onwards he frequently exhibited at the Salon d’Automne. His major work is the monumental frieze of La Danse (marble, 1913; Paris, Musée d’Orsay). With Georges Lacombe and Maillol he was one of the first 19th-century sculptors to resume the technique of direct carving instead of the common practice of translating a plaster or clay model using mechanical aids. He exerted a considerable influence over his contemporaries in the 1920s.
Bernard realised the frieze of La Danse in 1912-1913 for the collector Paul Nocard. The marble relief was placed in the music room of his townhouse in Neuilly, just outside Paris . The scene shows dancers accompanied by musicians and children. The work became very famous and Bernard was commissioned to make a more monumental frieze of the same subject for the Exposition Internationale des Arts décoratifs in Paris in 1925. Hence from the 1910s on, the sculptor was intensely occupied with the theme of dance and dancers and he must have been influenced by the Ballets Russes which were performing in Paris in the same years. Bernard started to work on the theme of a dancing faun in about 1912. A Dancing faun was first exhibited at the Galerie des Arts, Paris, in 1914. The Dancing faun is known in three sizes. The Petit faune dansant measures 34 cm high, about 10 casts are known. A larger version, 72 cm high, corresponds to our bronze. The monumental version measures 185 cm, an example of it is in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
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