AUGUSTE BARTHOLDI (1834-1904) Head of Africa circa... Lot 83

AUGUSTE BARTHOLDI (1834-1904) Head of Africa circa 1863 Patinated plaster in preparation for the Bruat monument, Colmar (Minor accidents) Head of Africa, sculpture in patinated plaster by Auguste Bartholdi, circa 1863 HEIGHT 58 CM - H. 22,8 IN. Provenance By oral tradition, acquired by the previous owner directly from the descendants of the Bartholdi family. Related works - Auguste Bartholdi, Statue de l'amiral Bruat, 1857-1864, bronze, Champs de Mars, Colmar ; - Auguste Bartholdi, Projet pour le Monument Bruat, tinted plaster model, 1856, Musée Bartholdi, Colmar; - Auguste Bartholdi, Tête de l'Afrique, Fragment de l'ancienne fontaine, pink sandstone, 1863, Musée Bartholdi, Colmar; - Auguste Bartholdi, Head of America, Fragment of the old fountain, pink sandstone, 1863, Musée Bartholdi, Colmar. Related literature - Stanislas Lami, Dictionnaire des sculpteurs de l'École française au dix-neuvième siècle, t. I, edition of p. 65 ; - Jacques Betz, Bartholdi, Les éditions de Minuits, Paris, 1954, pp. 46, 47 and 49; - Robert Belot and Daniel Bermond, Bartholdi, Perrin, 2004, pp.117-119; - Robert Belot, Bartholdi, l'homme qui inventa la liberté, collection Biographies et mythes historiques, Ellipses, 2019, pp.159-169, 314, 527. This head represents a black man with powerful, hard features, frozen in an expression that is at once dignified, proud and bitter. In the abolitionist context of the 1860s, Bartholdi offered both a powerful image of the African victim of slavery but determined to free himself from its oppressive chains, and his first work conveying his political commitment and attachment to universalist values. The impact of this representation of Africa was also immediate for certain personalities adhering to the same values, such as Dr. Schweitzer, physician and philosopher, future Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1952, whose Bartholdi Museum preserves a moving testimony, entitled 'Am I in the grip of a dream or a hallucination' and fully transcribed in Robert Belot's 2019 biography: "... What I look upon as the noblest jewel in Colmar is "le Nègre" (a term of the time transcribed verbatim to remain faithful to the original text) who with his hands crossed above his knees the deep dazed gaze is lying at the foot of the Admiral. Yes, this "Nègre" is the noblest, most original work of our sculptural age. I know of no statue that has caused me such marvellous emotion, that moves me so deeply, to the very depths of my soul. The truth of nature and the truth of the ideal are blended to such a marvelous degree...".