The Queen of Sheba Illustrated by Bourdelle

IInspired by its lyricism, the artist provides a unique and colorful interpretation whose art illumination technique of Jean Saudé restores all the subtleties. From idea to work, from text to image, the exhibition invites visitors to discover both the inventive freedom of Bourdelle and the role he played in the creation of an art edition.

Born from his encounter with the eminent orientalist Joseph-Charles Mardrus, the series of watercolors for The Queen of Sheba constitutes the most remarkable illustration projects of Bourdelle. Intended for a deluxe edition published in 1922 by the Société Littéraire de France in 1922, the tale derived from The Thousand and One Nights draws from the vibrant source of a legendary Orient.

Over the pages, Bourdelle freely reinterprets the narrative: “I hate being an absolute slave to a text,” he confided. Like scenes in a dream, each image emanates a distinct atmosphere and the figures transform through multiple variations.

Through his palette of warm tones, Bourdelle gives tangible form to the sensual and mystical universe of Mardrus’ text. Eight years later, this creative freedom led him to incorporate the compositions not retained for The Queen of Sheba with the edition of another tale, The Magical Bridegroom.

The Queen of Sheba also allows Bourdelle to continue the research he was pursuing in sculpture. The artist synthesizes forms, moving between the sensuality of a curve and the rigor of a geometrized composition, born from the observation of Egyptian and medieval sculptures in his collection. His “frescoes,” as he calls them, thus testify to the warmth of a sensibility and the power of a colorist, whose stencil reproductions of Saudé fully give the measure.