LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2006 October Decorative Art Signature Auction #...  / 

33767

A Alfred Boucher Bronze Sculpture: Au But

Currency:USD Category:Art Start Price:2,000.00 USD Estimated At:8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD
A Alfred Boucher Bronze Sculpture: Au But
<B>A French Bronze Sculpture: <I>Au But</B></I></B></I><BR><BR>After Alfred Boucher (1850-1934)<BR>Cast by Siot Foundry, Paris, France<BR>Late Nineteenth Century<BR>Marks: <I>A BOUCHER, SIOT-PARIS, 144</B></I><BR>17.75 in. tall (19.62 in. with base)<BR><BR>Of three athletes running, arms outstretched to reach their goal, on an oval green marble base.<BR><BR>The plaster version of <I>Au But</B></I> was exhibited at the Salon of 1886 and won a first class medal. Many critics commended the sculptor's talent and Paul Leroi wrote of the piece in L'Art, "a plaster group with an extreme vigour, an admirable intensity of life, the greatest movement, and a rare suppleness of modelling, in short, one of the masterpieces which honors French art." The state awarded Boucher the Chevalier de la Lgion d'Honneur and commissioned a life-size bronze version of Au But. The finished cast was exhibited at the Salon in 1887 (no. 3675), before being placed in the Luxembourg Gardens, where it remained until, sadly, being destroyed during the Nazi occupation. Such was the popularity of this work, it was edited in many different sizes, and by numerous foundries, including Barbedienne, Susse and Siot-Decauville.<BR>
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