Self-Portrait with Hat (Bourdelle par lui-même)

From his earliest years, self-portraits were omnipresent in Bourdelle's work. Drawn, painted and photographed, his own image was an ever-present model. He keenly set out the reflection of an artist in the making, capturing his sharp, determined gaze and his assertive pose. The use of black (both in pencil and in photographs) distances the portrait from the living, by removing the colour of skin tones and accessories. Yet in giving the figure a less carnal, colder character, it manages to express the torments of young artists.

Stéphanie Cantarutti