Antoine Bourdelle (French, 1861–1929)Beethoven à Deux Mains1908.Inscribed 'Je suis tout ce qui est/Tout ce qui a été et tout ce qui sera/Nul homme mortel n'a levé mon voile/Beethoven' at the base, bottom left.Signed 'BOURDELLE' (underlined) at the base, bottom right; with'© By BOURDELLE' at the base, bottom right (verso); also inscribed and numbered 'IIIV E. A. 1' and with 'CIRE/A. VALSUANI/PERDUE' foundry mark at the base, bottom left (verso), bronze with green brown patinaHeight: 21 in. (53.3cm)PROVENANCE:Rhodia Dufet-Bourdelle, Paris.Acquired directly from the above.Collection of Robert A. Becker, New York, New York.LITERATURE:Ionel Jianou and Michel Dufet, Bourdelle, Arted, Paris, 1965, listed p. 72 (another cast).Carol Marc Lavrillier and Michel Dufet, Bourdelle et la Critique de son Temps, Paris-Musées, Paris, 1992, p. 121 (another cast illustrated).Peter Cannon-Brookes, Emile Antoine Bourdelle, an Illustrated Commentary, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, 1983, cover and p. 32 (another cast illustrated).NOTE:After a brief pause in the mid-1880s, Bourdelle once again sculpted Beethoven at the end of the decade. This time, the vigorous, spontaneous interpretations of the composer's personality gave way to a new quality in Bourdelle's art, one that prefigured the Modern movement. With its striking precision and certain austerity, the present bronze announces an entirely new aesthetic. Beethoven is depicted here as a gaunt figure who suddenly emerges from a block of stone, like an apparition. Through a smooth surface, and a simplification of form, Bourdelle is able to express with greater force the ideas he developed some ten years prior, and confronts his viewer with an inescapable ghostly image. The sculpture echoes the advice Bourdelle gave to his students: "The sculptor's hands need to soften when touching stone." As he grew older, Bourdelle's art further developed, and under his mature hands, Beethoven appears quieter and calmer. The work dissolves into the pure expression of the composer's soul: his fiery hair dwindles, his eyes are closing. Such a withdrawal accentuates the work's inner beauty and strength.