Lot 118: MME LÉON BERTAUX, NÉE HÉLÉNA HÉBERT FRENCH, 1825-1909

signed: M^me Léon Bertaux. inscribed with the dedication OFFERT A M^r L. BOURNE / Commissaire organisateur des groupes XVI et XVII / à l'Exposition Internationale de Paris 1886 / PAR MM. LES MEMBRES DU JURY ET LES EXPOSANTS DE CES GROUPES and with the lines of Hugo's poem on a cartouche ELLE EST LA DANS LA FEUILLÉE / EVEILLÉE / AU MOINDRE BRUIT DE MALHEUR / ET ROUGE POUR UNE MOUCHE / QUI LA TOUCHE / COMME UNE GRENADE EN FLEUR

bronze rich dark brown patina, on a green velvet base

JEUNE FILLE AU BAIN OR SARA LA BAIGNEUSE (SARA AT THE BATH)

bronze: 69 by 75cm., 27 1/8 by 29 1/2 in. base: 3cm., 1 1/4 in.

QUANTITY: 2

'I visited the picture galleries once more, and was struck by the fact that several women had been admitted to places of honor. This was especially noticeable in the Luxembourg Sculpture Gallery, where two women, Mme. Bertaux and the late Claude Vignon, were both represented by good work- the first and only women sculptors admitted to that gallery.' When Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the 19th century's most vocal champions of female suffrage, recalled this 1887 visit, Hélène Bertaux - almost completely unknown today - had already established herself as one of the leading female sculptors of her day, who had enjoyed close links with the Imperial household and Count Emilien de Nieuwerkerke. She founded the Union of Women Painters, Sculptors and Engravers in 1881 and established the first sculpture school for women, lobbying the École des Beaux-Arts to accept them. She later became the only woman to be elected to the Salon jury.
The present bronze reduction of the marble Jeune fille au bain relates to an important state commission, constituting one of her major successes. It was exhibited at the 1876 Salon and the Exposition Universelle of 1878 and contributed to her winning a gold medal when a bronze version was shown at the 1889 Exposition Universelle together with her Psyché. It is inspired by a verse from Victor Hugo's Sara la baigneuse (Les Orientales, V/XIX, 1829) which translates 'See her 'neath the leafage vert, / Lurk, alert / Should the slightest mischief lower, / Rosy (for a cruel fly / Stings her), ay / As a pomegranate in flower.'

RELATED LITERATURE Lami vol.1, p.110; A. Easterday, 'Working the System: Hélène Bertaux and Second Empire Patronage', PART, 6, New York 2000