Hercules – sculpture at an angle

Emile Antoine BOURDELLE

  • circa 1906
  • Contact print from a gelatin-silver bromide glass plate negative
  • 12 cm x 9 cm
  • MBPV669

The sculpture Hercules the Archer (1906-1909) was the result of eight successive medium-sized studies. For the purposes of this photograph, Bourdelle placed the plaster cast of his third study on a stepladder, recognisable by the cut-off top of the rock, held in precarious balance by a temporary base. This ingenious staging technique allowed the work to be read in a different light, and gave Bourdelle the opportunity to experiment with the final angle of the work. Taken in front of a white curtain, the photograph goes beyond its strict function by renewing the plasticity of a work that is nonetheless emblematic.

Colin Lemoine


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