Monument to Adam Mickiewicz at the Salon des Tuileries, 1927

In the spring of 1927, Bourdelle exhibited at the Salon des Tuileries’ “Wood Pavilion” at the Porte Maillot. It was in that temporary structure that he displayed the top part of the Monument to Adam Mickiewicz, which was inaugurated on the Place de l'Alma two years later, a few weeks before his death. On a column flanked by the figure from the Polish Epic, under lighting directly from above, the statue of poet Adam Mickiewicz dominates an assembly of sculptures, an entire population of silent figures. Bourdelle's shift towards the monumental is particularly evident here, as a contemporary critic remarked: “Bourdelle appears to be the only architect-artist of our time, the only one who cares about light and knows how to use it and do it justice.”

Colin Lemoine