Transmission of knowledge

From 1909 to 1929 at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, north of the Montparnasse cemetery, Bourdelle taught the art of sculpting to hundreds of French and foreign students -Alberto Giacometti, Germaine Richier, Otto Gutfreund... Each session was divided into two parts: the class, with corrections of drawings and clay stydies made after live models, was followed by the lesson, which included readings of theoretical thoughts and musings. Through the manuscripts of these classes and lessons, we can hear the demanding yet lyrical voice of the creator of the educator who exhorted everyone to "sing their own song".

The sutdents allowed in the workshops in Impasse du Maine acted as his personal guard. They -most often women students- all assisted the master in the execution of his works, while willingly acting as models and posing for him. Bourdelle made photographic sculptures. Thus La Chilienne [Chilean Woman], L'Allemande [German Woman], Femme sculpteur russe [Russian sculptress], Femme sculpteur au travail [Sculptress at Work] borrow thier features respectively frome Henriette Petit-Vargas, Hedwig Woermann, Catherine Markowitch, Cléopâtre Sevastos et Madeleine Charnaux. This gallery of familiar faces formed an array of experimental shapes that would open the door towards modernity.