Bourdelle the teacher

He discovered a taste for teaching in 1900 when he taught briefly at the short-lived Institut Rodin, before asserting himself in the role at the Grande Chaumière, where he taught from 1909 to 1929. Teaching became a source of personal fulfilment for the artist. 
His handwritten lecture and lesson notes preserved in the Musée Bourdelle archives demonstrate his writing skills and his “musical prose” as well as his theories on art. A number of articles published during his lifetime and the accounts of former students capture the welcoming atmosphere of his classes and the lyricism of his words.
A kind teacher and a much-admired educator, Bourdelle's approach to learning was nonconformist and eclectic: “The only system is not to have one.” He taught the practical basics of drawing and sculpture, placing particular emphasis on structural analysis of the body and the importance of construction. He also passed on more general knowledge about art and life. Like Socrates, he wanted to be an “intellectual midwife”, awakening the minds of his students and helping them to understand and develop themselves.

Places and years that Bourdelle taught:

Bourdelle Studios, Impasse du Maine, Paris (Musée Bourdelle, 16, rue Antoine-Bourdelle): from 1890
Institut Rodin, also known as Ateliers de sculpture – Rodin Desbois Bourdelle, 132 boulevard du Montparnasse, Paris: 1900
Académie de la Grande Chaumière, 14 rue de la Grande Chaumière à Paris: 1909-1929
Ecole de dessin de la Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins (the Gobelins manufactory drawing school), 42 avenue des Gobelins, Paris: 1920-1926

→ Browse the directory of Bourdelle’s students

Claire Boisserolles