Antoine Bourdelle, in his iconic blue corduroy suit, stands out against the whiteness of the plaster sculptures. Seen seated in profile, he is surrounded by two key works that are emblematic of his formal synthesis: fragments of the bas-reliefs from the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Apollo and his Meditation and a Muse, 1911-1913), and Apollo in Combat (1900-1909), a seminal work that marks Bourdelle's formal break with Rodin. Apollo's golden-green colour matches the patina of the bronze produced by Rudier (MBBR300).
Félix Desgranges was a pupil of the painter Jean-Léon Gérôme. He exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1885 to 1890, then at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1892. He was then absent from the Paris Salons until 1914, when he exhibited only this portrait of Bourdelle. After the war, he exhibited almost continuously at the Salon des Tuileries (of which Bourdelle was a founder), from 1924 to 1931.
Desgranges and Bourdelle probably met as neighbours at their studios at 16, Impasse du Maine, where Desgranges lived for a short time in 1892. In a letter to the painter dated 12 October 1898, Bourdelle invited him to go and see his exhibition at the Galerie Georges Petit and assured him of his ‘very old friendship’.
Bourdelle painted a pastel portrait of Madame Desgranges. Their daughter Germaine Desgranges (1892-1974) was a sculptor, who later became a pupil of Bourdelle. In 1921, she married the statue sculptor Philippe Besnard, son of the painter Albert Besnard. At the request of Felix Desgranges, Bourdelle gave a speech at the wedding breakfast.
Valérie Montalbetti Kervella
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