Antoine Bourdelle Research Centre

Access

Located in the Museum extension designed by Christian de Portzamparc, the Research Centre is open from Monday to Friday, by appointment only. (Documentation Contact Form).

All requests must be received at least 15 days before the date of the visit. 
Please specify the subject of the research and the documents to be consulted, as some are kept in storage. There are various tools listed on the Documentary Resources page, which can be used to find out more about the collections.

Visitors with an appointment should ring the bell at 16, rue Antoine-Bourdelle (Paris) then go to the security office. Once you have signed in, you will be given a badge.

Consultation arrangements

The Research Centre has four consultation areas. Visitors require prior authorisation to take photographs.
Books, archives and documents may only be consulted on site. 
A locker is available at the entrance to the Reading Room for personal belongings. 
Only pencils, laptops and mobile phones are allowed in the Reading Room.

Requests for photographs

To request any photographs of works by Antoine Bourdelle or in the Museum's collection, please email the Paris Musées Digital Resources Department at photo.parismusees@paris.fr
Requests for photographs of works by artists that are not in the public domain, but still subject to copyright must be sent to the Agence Photographique de la RMN-GP (Link).

Research Centre - Documentary Resources

Archive Collections

The Antoine Bourdelle Collection

Thanks to Rhodia Dufet-Bourdelle’s bequest in 2002, the Museum holds all of Antoine Bourdelle’s personal archives, which constitute an essential source of knowledge about the artist and his work. 
These archives cover a wide spectrum: correspondence, press articles, theoretical writings, prose and poetry, travel diaries, lectures and lessons given at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and administrative documents. 
A search guide describes the 15 “series” (or categories) in the collection and the artist’s correspondence, item by item.
https://www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/musee-bourdelle/archives/fonds-antoine-bourdelle
The press reviews collected by Bourdelle between 1880 and 1929, tracing his career as an exhibitor and the critical reception of his work, have been fully digitised. Due to their fragile nature, the originals can no longer be consulted, but can be accessed online via the Collections Portal.
- Press reviews (parismuseescollections.paris.fr)
- List of Bourdelle exhibitions (Website)

Here is the list of the 15 series (categories) in the archives:
Series - MB_ARCH_BO_AB/A. - Writings;
Series - MB_ARCH_BO_AB/B. - Correspondence (1882-1932);
Series - MB_ARCH_BO_AB/C. - Blue notebooks (1875-1926);
Series - MB_ARCH_BO_AB/D. - Canvas storage boxes (1885-1934);
Series - MB_ARCH_BO_AB/E. - Students, lectures and lessons (1909-1922);
Series - MB_ARCH_BO_AB/F. - International (1904-1929);
Series - MB_ARCH_BO_AB/G. - Press reviews (1880-1929);
Series - MB_ARCH_BO_AB/H. - Studio/Collaboration (1894-1944);
Series - MB_ARCH_BO_AB/I. - Collection (1904-1928);
Series - MB_ARCH_BO_AB/J. - Dissemination of A.B.’s work (1898-1929);
Series - MB_ARCH_BO_AB/K. - Memberships/Subscriptions (1901-1929);
Series - MB_ARCH_BO_AB/L. - Official papers/Awards (1881-1929);
Series - MB_ARCH_BO_AB/M. - Household expenditure (1907-1929);
Series - MB_ARCH_BO_AB/N. - Miscellaneous (1913-1928);
Series - MB_ARCH_BO_AB/O. - Pictures.

- Archive holdings (website)

Other private archives

Some of the collections (such as the family archives) are currently being processed or awaiting processing, and cannot be viewed at this time. 
- Archive holdings (website)

Institutionnal archiveses: exhibition archives

Records of exhibitions organised since the Museum opened in 1949, including exhibitions by winners of the Bourdelle Prize.
- List of Museum exhibitions (website)

Documentary collections

Artwork Files
The scientific documentation includes several hundred Artwork files relating to Bourdelle's sculptures and collections. They are regularly added to, as publications relating to the artist are analysed and online sales of his works are monitored. They provide historical, bibliographical and material information about the works in addition to the entries published in the collections database.
- Collections Database (www.navigart.fr/bourdelle)

“People” Files and Subject Area Files 
The “People” files, which are regularly added to, contain information on Bourdelle's correspondents, contemporaries, family members and students.  
- Student directory (website)

The Subject Area files provide information on Bourdelle's sources of inspiration, the places where he taught, the publications he illustrated, the French and foreign public institutions that preserve his works, the artists' residence in Impasse du Maine where he set up his studios, etc.
- Map of Bourdelle's works around the world (website)
- Directory of Impasse du Maine Residents (website)

Libraries

Two archives were added to the Museum's collections with Rhodia Dufet Bourdelle’s bequest in 2002: 
Antoine Bourdelle's personal library
This reconstituted collection of over 900 books and periodicals bears witness to the artist's literary and artistic tastes. 
- Online catalogue (parismusescollections.paris.fr)
- Archive holdings (website)

Rhodia Dufet Bourdelle and Michel Dufet’s library
Antoine Bourdelle’s daughter and son-in-law's library contains around 3,000 books and is currently being inventoried.
In the past, these books filled shelves in a corridor adjoining the couple's apartment (now the café-restaurant). A French window at the back of the café-restaurant shows a selection of these works.

In addition to these archives, the Museum Library contains materials covering sculpture in general and the sculptor, his works and his contemporaries in particular, as well as a record of the activities of the Museum since its creation in 1949, through its exhibition catalogues and publications.

Lists of publications (pdf)

•    Monographs and guides (download) 
•    Antoine Bourdelle, published writings and correspondence (download) 
•    Museum Exhibition Catalogues (download) 
•    Articles, special issues of periodicals (download)
•    Catalogue of Antoine Bourdelle monographic, collective, and thematic exhibitions (download) 
•    List of Bourdelle Prize winners (download)

Online resources about the history of the Museum and its collections

Amélie Simier: “Aux origines du musée Bourdelle : la donation de 1949”. Choisir Paris : les grandes donations aux musées de la Ville de Paris, edited by Chantal Georgel, Publications de l’Institut national d’histoire de l’art, 2015. URL: https://doi.org/10.4000/books.inha.6950

Chloe Théault: “Le musée Bourdelle, lieu de mémoire et de valorisation d’une collection monographique”, In Situ [Online], 29 | 2016, published online 21 July 2016, accessed 24 May 2024. URL: https://doi.org/10.4000/insitu.13439

Théault, Chloë: “Un herbier d’images : la collection de reproductions photographiques rassemblées par Bourdelle”, Interfaces [Online], 41 | 2019, published online 21 June 2019, accessed 24 May 2024. URL: https://doi.org/10.4000/interfaces.645