Lot 146: ALPHONSE VAN BEURDEN BELGIAN, 1854-1938

signed: ALPH. VAN BEURDEN.

bronze, dark brown patina

A NUDE YOUTH WITH AN AXE

73cm., 28 3/4 in.

The composition of the present seated boy is closely comparable to the life-size marble Dromende Knaap (Dreaming Boy) of 1909 in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp (inv.no.5524-C). The youth is similarly depicted naked and deep in thought, but whereas in the marble there are no attributes, Van Beurden here fills out the composition with the inclusion of logs and an axe for the boy to lean on. Other works by Van Beurden on a similar theme include his Youth by a Fountain and Boy with a birds nest (probably inspired by an earlier work by Bridan), both of which were done during van Beurden's membership of the Als Ik Kan movement.

Van Beurden was one of the leading sculptors of the Antwerp school and he exhibited regularly in international exhibitions, such as Munich in 1891, where he won a Gold Medal. He regularly contributed to architectural projects with reliefs and caryatid figures, such as the huge marble female figures in the grand staircase of the Antwerp museum. He also worked in ivory which was being imported from the Belgian Congo.

RELATED LITERATURE
Beeldhouwwerken en assemblages 19de en 20ste eeuw p.24, no.1657; La Sculpture Belge vol.2, pp.569-70