Lot 114: EDWARD DECKERS BELGIAN, 1873-1956

signed: Edward Deckers and inscribed S^TE N^LE DES BRONZES / F^RIE J. PETERMANN / S^TE A^ME BRUXELLES

bronze, rich dark brown patina

75cm., 29 1/2 in.

Le Charmeur dates to circa 1903 when Deckers sent a bronze version for exhibition at the Brussels Salon. The confident anatomical modelling and strong composition are typical of his style and it was received with critical acclaim. Following the lead of the Antwerp Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts, who had acquired Deckers' marble Nymphe découvrant la tête d'Orphée in 1901, it was purchased by the Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique for the national collection. This bronze, which like the present work was cast by Petermann, was also exhibited at the 1905 International Exhibition in Liège as well as the exhibition of L'Art Contemporain in Antwerp (1908). It was later chosen as one of the sculptures in his retrospective exhibition the year before his death, in 1955.

The end of the first decade of the last century marked the beginning of Decker's mature work and his establishment as one of the leading official sculptors in Antwerp. He was appointed the first professor of modelling from life at the Académie Royale and influenced a generation of sculptors in this capacity until his retirement in 1942. The son of the sculptor Frans Deckers, a Prix de Rome winner, Deckers had a successful and prolific career but his work is relatively little known and rarely seen on the market.

RELATED LITERATURE
La Sculpture Belge vol.2, pp.335-7, no.19