Following the success of his novel Césette. Histoire d’une paysanne, published in 1881, the regional writer Emile Pouvillon (1840-1906) planned to produce an illustrated edition and commissioned drawings from Bourdelle. The artist worked on it constantly between 1881 and 1891, producing around a hundred drawings inspired by the work of the painter Jean-Francois Millet.
Year after year, as if to recharge his batteries, he dived back into his reading and kept drawing, ablaze with a “sacred fire”, finding “subjects on every page, almost every line”. (Letter to Pouvillon dated [18] May 1889).
In his drawings, he conjures up his memories of landscapes and country folk.
The illustrated edition never saw the light of day, although there were two other projects in 1906 and 1925.
The signed copy held in the museum has been read and reread, and is very worn. An active reader, Bourdelle underlined many passages and punctuated some pages with tiny sketches.
Claire Boisserolles
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