Lot 198: GEORGE SIMONDS BRITISH, 1847-1929

inscribed: GODDESS GERD / (THE NORTHERN AURORA) / WAS SO BEAUTIFUL THAT WHEN SHE / WAVED HER ARMS AND HAIR / THE WORLD WAS LIT UP BY HER LOVELINESS

bronze, mottled green patina, on an elaborate multi-coloured marble base

Quantity: 5

gerd: 100cm., 39 3/8 in. socle: 18.5cm., 7 1/4 in. column: 93cm., 36 1/2 in.

George Simonds was passionate about bronze casting. In 1886, as the first President of the Art Workers Guild, he made an appeal to his fellow sculptors for them to cast their own bronzes, making a vehement criticism of edition bronzes produced in commercial foundries which he described as 'cabinet bronzes' as opposed to 'autograph bronzes'. The sensitive lost wax casting of The Goddess Gerd gives the body a delicate softness, but the most impressive technical aspect is the luxuriant hair built up in stands of shaped bronze. The Goddess truly epitomizes Simonds' strong beliefs in the sculptor's personal involvement in casting. Spielmann, the first important chronicler of the New Sculpture, described it as 'an admirable... graceful and poetic work'. Simonds is also remembered as the sculptor of the famous large statue in Central Park, New York of The Falconer.