Sculpture by Painters
not including Modigliani and Klein.
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : French sculpture Bust Children Man and woman Music and dance Degas Gauguin Matisse De Kooning Picasso 1907-1931 Picasso 1940-1960 Picasso in Mougins Germany II
Chronology : 1902 1910 1920-1929 1927 1953 1959 1970-1979 1972 1978
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : French sculpture Bust Children Man and woman Music and dance Degas Gauguin Matisse De Kooning Picasso 1907-1931 Picasso 1940-1960 Picasso in Mougins Germany II
Chronology : 1902 1910 1920-1929 1927 1953 1959 1970-1979 1972 1978
Petite Danseuse de Quatorze ans by DEGAS
An original artist with an uneasy temper, Edgar Degas was one of the most innovative graphic artists of the nineteenth century. He knew that he was close to the Impressionists and appreciated their rejection of classicism. His own creative process was very complex, as shown in the example below.
In 1879, Marie draws the attention of the artist. Aged 14, this "petit rat d'Opéra" is an ungrateful teenager, far from physiological maturity, with awkward gestures, but already attracted to her future career as a dancer (which ended before it was to start when she was fired from the dance school for repeated absences).
Degas was a painter, draftsman, sculptor, photographer, printer, but his great art was oil and pastel. He used drawing and sculpture like sketches.
On his first sculpture of Marie, 74 cm high, the girl is naked. This makes sense since the artist wants to study the movements of her body. This is not enough for him. He realized another larger statue in painted wax, a little over 1 m, in the same position, with the unconventional idea to equip it with a dancing dress in cloth and real hair. By its realism that does not reject some ugliness, this portrait of an adolescent girl is indeed a key work of modern sculpture.
As in his many pastels of ballerinas, Degas captures a moment of life which is neither from the performance nor relaxed, which may be a reverie or an exhaustion.
After much hesitation, he shows his Petite danseuse de quatorze ans at the Impressionist exhibition of 1881. After this unique event and until his death in 1917, no sculpture of the master will be exhibited.
In 1879, Marie draws the attention of the artist. Aged 14, this "petit rat d'Opéra" is an ungrateful teenager, far from physiological maturity, with awkward gestures, but already attracted to her future career as a dancer (which ended before it was to start when she was fired from the dance school for repeated absences).
Degas was a painter, draftsman, sculptor, photographer, printer, but his great art was oil and pastel. He used drawing and sculpture like sketches.
On his first sculpture of Marie, 74 cm high, the girl is naked. This makes sense since the artist wants to study the movements of her body. This is not enough for him. He realized another larger statue in painted wax, a little over 1 m, in the same position, with the unconventional idea to equip it with a dancing dress in cloth and real hair. By its realism that does not reject some ugliness, this portrait of an adolescent girl is indeed a key work of modern sculpture.
As in his many pastels of ballerinas, Degas captures a moment of life which is neither from the performance nor relaxed, which may be a reverie or an exhaustion.
After much hesitation, he shows his Petite danseuse de quatorze ans at the Impressionist exhibition of 1881. After this unique event and until his death in 1917, no sculpture of the master will be exhibited.
masterpiece
1881 wax original
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Edgar Degas’s Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans), modeled 1878–1881, stands as one of the most radical, controversial, and technically innovative sculptures of the 19th century. It is the only sculpture Degas exhibited publicly during his lifetime (at the Sixth Impressionist Exhibition in Paris in 1881). Today, the fragile original wax figure resides in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (acquired via Paul Mellon), while approximately 27–30 bronze casts (produced after Degas’s death in 1917) are dispersed in major museums worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Musée d’Orsay, and others.
The Model and Social Context
The sculpture portrays Marie Geneviève van Goethem (or van Goethem), a young petit rat (“little rat”)—the nickname for the lowest-ranking ballet students at the Paris Opéra Ballet. Born into a working-class family (father a tailor, mother a laundress), Marie and her sisters entered the ballet to escape poverty. These girls, often from modest or marginal backgrounds, endured grueling training from a young age. Many faced exploitation: low pay, physical strain, and pressure from wealthy male abonnés (subscribers) who had backstage access and frequently sought sexual favors. Marie’s older sister Antoinette occasionally worked as a prostitute to support the family. After leaving the Opéra, Marie’s life faded into obscurity; she likely died in poverty. Degas captured her at around age 14, embodying the transitional vulnerability of these young dancers—poised between childhood and the harsh realities of adult professional (and sometimes transactional) life.
Materials, Technique, and Radical Realism
Degas constructed the original as a mixed-media assemblage rather than carving or modeling in a traditional academic manner:
Reception in 1881: Scandal and Innovation
Contemporary critics reacted with a mixture of fascination and revulsion. Many found the figure “ugly,” “vulgar,” or even “monstrous”—comparing her facial features to a monkey, an Aztec, or a criminal type (invoking then-popular pseudosciences like phrenology and physiognomy). Terms like “flower of precocious depravity” or “hateful promise of every vice” reflected class prejudice: the public associated the unidealized working-class girl with moral corruption and the Opéra’s seedy underbelly. Some praised its bold realism and modernity, with Joris-Karl Huysmans hailing it as overthrowing the traditions of sculpture much as Degas had shaken painting. Degas withdrew the work after a short display and never exhibited another sculpture publicly.
The scandal stemmed from its rejection of academic ideals: instead of a graceful, timeless nymph, Degas presented a specific, contemporary adolescent—awkward, determined, and marked by her environment.
Interpretations: Realism, Exploitation, and the Gaze
Legacy
After Degas’s death, his heirs authorized bronze editions to preserve and monetize the waxes (many of which were deteriorating). Today, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen is one of the most recognizable and beloved sculptures in the world—ironically transformed from a scandalous outlier into an icon of modern art. It continues to provoke discussion about realism vs. idealization, the ethics of representation, the lives of working artists (especially young women), and the blurred line between observation and objectification.
In the broader context of Degas’s ballet oeuvre, it distills his lifelong fascination with movement, labor, and modernity into a single, uncompromising figure: a young girl caught between aspiration and the unforgiving realities of her world. Its enduring power lies in that unresolved tension—beautiful in its honesty, unsettling in its truth.
The Model and Social Context
The sculpture portrays Marie Geneviève van Goethem (or van Goethem), a young petit rat (“little rat”)—the nickname for the lowest-ranking ballet students at the Paris Opéra Ballet. Born into a working-class family (father a tailor, mother a laundress), Marie and her sisters entered the ballet to escape poverty. These girls, often from modest or marginal backgrounds, endured grueling training from a young age. Many faced exploitation: low pay, physical strain, and pressure from wealthy male abonnés (subscribers) who had backstage access and frequently sought sexual favors. Marie’s older sister Antoinette occasionally worked as a prostitute to support the family. After leaving the Opéra, Marie’s life faded into obscurity; she likely died in poverty. Degas captured her at around age 14, embodying the transitional vulnerability of these young dancers—poised between childhood and the harsh realities of adult professional (and sometimes transactional) life.
Materials, Technique, and Radical Realism
Degas constructed the original as a mixed-media assemblage rather than carving or modeling in a traditional academic manner:
- Core structure: Metal armature reinforced with rope, wood chips, old paintbrushes, and an organic bundle, coated in clay, then clad in pigmented beeswax for the skin.
- Hyperrealist additions: Real human hair (a wig tied with a silk and linen ribbon), a cotton faille bodice, cotton-and-silk tutu (often tarlatan or gauze, replaced over time in casts), linen ballet slippers, and a wooden base.
- Scale and pose: Life-sized (approximately 98–99 cm / 39 inches tall). The girl stands in a relaxed fourth-position stance—weight on the back leg, front foot extended, arms clasped behind her back, head held high with a slightly lifted chin—conveying both discipline and adolescent awkwardness. The body shows subtle signs of strain and realism (protruding ribs, uneven skin tones in the wax).
Reception in 1881: Scandal and Innovation
Contemporary critics reacted with a mixture of fascination and revulsion. Many found the figure “ugly,” “vulgar,” or even “monstrous”—comparing her facial features to a monkey, an Aztec, or a criminal type (invoking then-popular pseudosciences like phrenology and physiognomy). Terms like “flower of precocious depravity” or “hateful promise of every vice” reflected class prejudice: the public associated the unidealized working-class girl with moral corruption and the Opéra’s seedy underbelly. Some praised its bold realism and modernity, with Joris-Karl Huysmans hailing it as overthrowing the traditions of sculpture much as Degas had shaken painting. Degas withdrew the work after a short display and never exhibited another sculpture publicly.
The scandal stemmed from its rejection of academic ideals: instead of a graceful, timeless nymph, Degas presented a specific, contemporary adolescent—awkward, determined, and marked by her environment.
Interpretations: Realism, Exploitation, and the Gaze
- Modernist breakthrough: The work pioneered hyperrealism and multimedia in sculpture, prefiguring 20th-century developments (assemblage, verism). It treated a modern, everyday subject with the seriousness traditionally reserved for classical or heroic themes.
- Social commentary: Degas exposed the harsh realities of the petits rats—their discipline, physical toll, and precarious social position—without romanticizing ballet’s glamour. The pose suggests both poised professionalism and underlying tension.
- Feminist and critical readings: Interpretations vary widely. Some see voyeurism or misogyny in Degas’s detached observation of young female bodies (he reportedly called dancers “little monkeys” and demanded long posing sessions). Others view it as compassionate realism or even subtle critique of bourgeois exploitation and the commodification of young women. The direct, unapologetic presence of the figure can read as resilient dignity amid adversity. Modern scholars debate whether Degas reinforced or challenged the era’s gender and class dynamics.
Legacy
After Degas’s death, his heirs authorized bronze editions to preserve and monetize the waxes (many of which were deteriorating). Today, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen is one of the most recognizable and beloved sculptures in the world—ironically transformed from a scandalous outlier into an icon of modern art. It continues to provoke discussion about realism vs. idealization, the ethics of representation, the lives of working artists (especially young women), and the blurred line between observation and objectification.
In the broader context of Degas’s ballet oeuvre, it distills his lifelong fascination with movement, labor, and modernity into a single, uncompromising figure: a young girl caught between aspiration and the unforgiving realities of her world. Its enduring power lies in that unresolved tension—beautiful in its honesty, unsettling in its truth.
1927 posthumous bronze
2022 SOLD for $ 42M by Christie's
Degas had considered that his waxes were too fragile for preparing bronze casts. In 1918 his heirs contracted Adrien Hébrard to produce limited bronze editions of all seventy-four wax sculptures found during the posthumous inventory.
Hébrard worked often on request from collectors. The first complete set of bronzes was finished in 1921. This activity made the founder busy up to 1938 including a total 29 casts of the Petite Danseuse.
Petite danseuse de quatorze ans was edited by Hébrard in bronze with muslin skirt and satin hair ribbon.A bronze 103 cm high not including the wooden base was sold for $ 42M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 2C.
This copy with brown patina was cast in 1927 by Hébrard in commission from a US collector. It is fitted with the usual muslin skirt and satin hair ribbon of that model.
Hébrard worked often on request from collectors. The first complete set of bronzes was finished in 1921. This activity made the founder busy up to 1938 including a total 29 casts of the Petite Danseuse.
Petite danseuse de quatorze ans was edited by Hébrard in bronze with muslin skirt and satin hair ribbon.A bronze 103 cm high not including the wooden base was sold for $ 42M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 2C.
This copy with brown patina was cast in 1927 by Hébrard in commission from a US collector. It is fitted with the usual muslin skirt and satin hair ribbon of that model.
#AuctionUpdate From the Anne H. Bass Collection, Edgar Degas’s ‘Petite danseuse de quatorze ans’ broke the auction record of the artist tonight; price realized $41.6 million pic.twitter.com/Dn4JLCbWTB
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 12, 2022
1922-1938
2026 SOLD for £ 25M by Sotheby's
An example with no estimate on the possible date was sold by Sotheby's for £ 15.8M on June 24, 2015, lot 14. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. It was back for sale at Sotheby's on June 24, 2026, lot 5. Realized price : £ 25M.
The Sotheby's example (the one from the Lewis Collection, reoffered in 2026) is a posthumous Hébrard bronze cast of Degas's iconic Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans (Little Dancer Aged Fourteen), conceived in wax circa 1879–81 and cast in bronze around 1922. Key features include:
Price differences explained (£15.8M in 2015 vs. $42M in 2022):
The Sotheby's example (the one from the Lewis Collection, reoffered in 2026) is a posthumous Hébrard bronze cast of Degas's iconic Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans (Little Dancer Aged Fourteen), conceived in wax circa 1879–81 and cast in bronze around 1922. Key features include:
- Markings: Inscribed "Degas," numbered "HER," and stamped with the foundry mark "A.A. HÉBRARD CIRE PERDUE" (on the base). The "HER" designation indicates it was one of the casts reserved for the Degas heirs or the foundry (typically two such marked examples existed among the ~29 total casts).
- Materials and appearance: Bronze with a muslin (tarlatan/tulle) skirt and satin hair ribbon on a wooden base. Height including base: 101.3 cm (about 39⅞–40 in.). It retains the characteristic brown patina, with the fabric elements evoking the original wax's hyper-realism (real clothing, hair ribbon, etc.).
- Provenance highlights: Previously owned by Émile Peyonat, then Claude Glassey, a European private collection (acquired 1964); sold at Sotheby's London in 2000 (lot 3), then again in 2015 (lot 14) for £15.8 million (about $24.8 million at the time). Now from the Lewis Collection.
- Context: Like all bronze versions, it derives from the unique original wax (now at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), which Degas exhibited in 1881. This cast captures the controversial realism—posed with hands behind her back, chin up, in ballet attire—that shocked viewers for its unidealized depiction of a working-class "petit rat" (Marie van Goethem).
- Markings: Stamped with the foundry mark "A.A. HÉBRARD CIRE PERDUE" (on her left thigh); no specific letter or "HER" noted in primary descriptions (it was cast in 1927).
- Materials and appearance: Bronze with brown patina, muslin skirt, and satin hair ribbon on wooden base. Height excluding base: 40½ in. (102.9 cm)—very similar dimensions.
- Provenance highlights: Commissioned directly from the Hébrard foundry in 1927 by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Liebman; later through Knoedler, the Payson family, Wildenstein, and acquired by Anne H. Bass in 1985. Strong, fresh-to-market American blue-chip provenance from a prominent collector.
Price differences explained (£15.8M in 2015 vs. $42M in 2022):
- Market timing and inflation: Art market prices for ultra-blue-chip Impressionist/Modern works rose significantly between 2015 and 2022. The Bass sale benefited from strong post-pandemic demand and a record-setting single-owner collection context.
- Provenance and freshness: The Bass example had exceptional, long-held American institutional/dealer provenance and was offered in a tightly focused, high-profile single-collection sale (expected to exceed $250M overall). The Lewis one had been on the market more recently (sold in 2000 and 2015), which can slightly temper enthusiasm compared to a "rediscovered" or freshly consigned trophy.
- Sale venue and competition: Christie's New York evening sale with intense bidder interest (it set the Degas record) vs. Sotheby's London. Currency fluctuations (GBP to USD) and overall economic conditions also play roles.
- Condition, presentation, and intangibles: Both are similar in quality, but subtle factors like patina, fabric condition, or the specific "HER" marking (which some collectors prize for its direct link to the estate) could influence perception. The Bass sale had broader hype around Anne Bass's taste and ballet connection.
- Rarity context: Only a handful of these remain in private hands (most in museums), so both are major opportunities, but auction dynamics drive final prices more than minor cast variations.
1902 GAUGUIN
Thérèse
2015 SOLD for $ 31M by Christie's
Gauguin's resentment against the establishment was taking the form of insulting provocations. He left Tahiti where he was not any more finding an inspiration to his art and arrived in the Marquesas in September 1901. He soon retrieved the targets of his vituperation : the Catholic clergy and the gendarmes of the French Republic.
Gauguin blamed the Catholics for their hypocritical opposition to sexual freedom and rejoiced about the weaknesses of the prelates. He purchased a piece of land to the local bishop to build his home which he decorated as a temple to pornography under the complacently inscribed name Maison du Jouir (House of orgasm). He bought a young vahine, achieving to generate the total exasperation of the missionaries.
This exiled artist has humor. The best exhibition place in the Maison du Jouir is the door, visible from outside. Around August 1902, Gauguin installs two statues made by him in rosewood in native style. The man, Père Paillard (Father Debauchery), is a caricature of the bishop as a horned devil. The woman, Thérèse, is inspired by the gossip that the servant of the bishop was also his mistress.
On this phallic shaped statue 66 cm high, Thérèse is a nice woman, naked except for a loincloth. With her oversized head increasing her expressive feature, she is a transposition of primitive art to a Western subject. Although the intention of the artist was purely local, appealing beside him the laughers of Atuona, this artwork anticipates the interpretation of African and Oceanian figures by the artists of the twentieth century.
Thérèse was sold for $ 31M from a lower estimate of $ 18M for sale by Christie's on November 9, 2015, lot 5A. Its pendant Père Paillard is kept at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.
Gauguin blamed the Catholics for their hypocritical opposition to sexual freedom and rejoiced about the weaknesses of the prelates. He purchased a piece of land to the local bishop to build his home which he decorated as a temple to pornography under the complacently inscribed name Maison du Jouir (House of orgasm). He bought a young vahine, achieving to generate the total exasperation of the missionaries.
This exiled artist has humor. The best exhibition place in the Maison du Jouir is the door, visible from outside. Around August 1902, Gauguin installs two statues made by him in rosewood in native style. The man, Père Paillard (Father Debauchery), is a caricature of the bishop as a horned devil. The woman, Thérèse, is inspired by the gossip that the servant of the bishop was also his mistress.
On this phallic shaped statue 66 cm high, Thérèse is a nice woman, naked except for a loincloth. With her oversized head increasing her expressive feature, she is a transposition of primitive art to a Western subject. Although the intention of the artist was purely local, appealing beside him the laughers of Atuona, this artwork anticipates the interpretation of African and Oceanian figures by the artists of the twentieth century.
Thérèse was sold for $ 31M from a lower estimate of $ 18M for sale by Christie's on November 9, 2015, lot 5A. Its pendant Père Paillard is kept at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.
Paul Gauguin's Thérèse sells for $30,965,000 a #worldauctionrecord for a sculpture by the artist. pic.twitter.com/NuEf8SG0Ex
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) November 10, 2015for reference
Père Paillard
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
PICASSO
1910-1939 Tête de Femme (Fernande)
During his summer of 1909 at Horta, Picasso made eight paintings and several drawings of his accompanying muse Fernande. In his search for a new artistic language that would supersede the reality by the emotion, he bored the 28 year old model.
Back in Paris and ever desiring to experiment techniques, he conceives a Cubist form of bust sculpture based on Fernande's features including her styled hair over the head. The clay is modeled so that the figure is going abstract from some angles of view.
Vollard acquires that clay in 1910 and creates a plaster from which he will have bronzes cast on request from customers up to his death in 1939 for an overall total of about 20 units. The foundry is rarely identified.
Tête de Femme (Fernande) (also known as Head of a Woman (Fernande) or Woman's Head (Fernande)) is a seminal 1909 sculpture by Pablo Picasso, widely regarded as his first major Cubist sculpture and a breakthrough in translating the fragmented, multi-perspective forms of Analytic Cubism into three dimensions.
Intention, Inspiration, and Iterations
Picasso created the work in the autumn of 1909 in Paris, shortly after spending the summer with his partner and muse Fernande Olivier in Horta de Ebro (now Horta de Sant Joan), Spain. That summer profoundly influenced his Cubist development through the village's angular architecture, rocky landscapes, and shifting light, which inspired faceted planes and simultaneous viewpoints in his paintings (e.g., Houses on the Hill, Horta de Ebro).
Fernande Olivier (born Amélie Lang) was Picasso's lover and primary model from around 1904–1912. She inspired dozens of works in 1909 alone (over 60 portraits/drawings/sculptures). The sculpture captures her distinctive features—high cheekbones, almond eyes, strong nose, and elegant neck—but abstracts them into geometric, faceted forms with sharp edges, recesses, and protruding planes that suggest volume, movement, and multiple angles. The head tilts dynamically, with light and shadow animating the surface.
Process and iterations: Picasso modeled the original directly in clay, building up mass and carving away material in a dynamic, additive-subtractive process that preserved tension and energy in the final form. He refined it further in plaster (sharpening edges and facets while damp). There were multiple plasters: one early (now on long-term loan to Tate, London) and a second (Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, post-1960 from a mold of the first). These served as models for bronzes.
This marked a breakthrough: Picasso's first significant sculpture since earlier, more traditional or experimental works (e.g., 1905–1906 heads). It synthesized his pictorial Cubist experiments into 3D, emphasizing structure, mass, and perceptual shift over literal resemblance—paving the way for his later sculptural innovations.
History in Clay and Bronze
The work gained early prominence: Alfred Stieglitz acquired and published a cast in Camera Work (1912); exhibited at the 1913 Armory Show; shown in Prague (1913); and widely illustrated/praised in early monographs.
Estimating Casting Dates of Vollard Examples
Vollard casts lack consistent numbering or foundry marks that precisely date them, making estimation challenging. Key methods include:
Legacy
This sculpture solidified Picasso's sculptural reputation and helped establish Cubism's 3D language. It influenced 20th-century sculpture by prioritizing conceptual structure, light/shadow interplay, and viewer engagement over traditional modeling. It remains a cornerstone of Cubist collections, frequently exhibited and studied as a bridge between Picasso's painting and later bronzes/assemblages.
Comparison and Dating of the Two Christie's Lots (see below)
Both are signed Vollard-era bronze casts with dark brown patina of the 1909 conception (Tête de femme (Fernande)). They are high-quality examples from the primary series.
These pieces exemplify Picasso's Cubist revolution in sculpture and remain highly sought-after. For precise authentication/dating of specific casts, consult a specialist with access to technical reports or the Spies catalogue raisonné.
Back in Paris and ever desiring to experiment techniques, he conceives a Cubist form of bust sculpture based on Fernande's features including her styled hair over the head. The clay is modeled so that the figure is going abstract from some angles of view.
Vollard acquires that clay in 1910 and creates a plaster from which he will have bronzes cast on request from customers up to his death in 1939 for an overall total of about 20 units. The foundry is rarely identified.
Tête de Femme (Fernande) (also known as Head of a Woman (Fernande) or Woman's Head (Fernande)) is a seminal 1909 sculpture by Pablo Picasso, widely regarded as his first major Cubist sculpture and a breakthrough in translating the fragmented, multi-perspective forms of Analytic Cubism into three dimensions.
Intention, Inspiration, and Iterations
Picasso created the work in the autumn of 1909 in Paris, shortly after spending the summer with his partner and muse Fernande Olivier in Horta de Ebro (now Horta de Sant Joan), Spain. That summer profoundly influenced his Cubist development through the village's angular architecture, rocky landscapes, and shifting light, which inspired faceted planes and simultaneous viewpoints in his paintings (e.g., Houses on the Hill, Horta de Ebro).
Fernande Olivier (born Amélie Lang) was Picasso's lover and primary model from around 1904–1912. She inspired dozens of works in 1909 alone (over 60 portraits/drawings/sculptures). The sculpture captures her distinctive features—high cheekbones, almond eyes, strong nose, and elegant neck—but abstracts them into geometric, faceted forms with sharp edges, recesses, and protruding planes that suggest volume, movement, and multiple angles. The head tilts dynamically, with light and shadow animating the surface.
Process and iterations: Picasso modeled the original directly in clay, building up mass and carving away material in a dynamic, additive-subtractive process that preserved tension and energy in the final form. He refined it further in plaster (sharpening edges and facets while damp). There were multiple plasters: one early (now on long-term loan to Tate, London) and a second (Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, post-1960 from a mold of the first). These served as models for bronzes.
This marked a breakthrough: Picasso's first significant sculpture since earlier, more traditional or experimental works (e.g., 1905–1906 heads). It synthesized his pictorial Cubist experiments into 3D, emphasizing structure, mass, and perceptual shift over literal resemblance—paving the way for his later sculptural innovations.
History in Clay and Bronze
- Clay original (1909): Acquired by dealer Ambroise Vollard in 1910 (or possibly 1909–1910), who recognized its importance and arranged casting.
- Bronze casts: Vollard commissioned casts (primarily lost-wax process) at foundries like Désiré/Florentin Godard in Paris. No strict limited edition or numbering initially; casts were produced on demand/as needed, likely starting around 1910–1911 but with many post-WWI (into the 1920s–1930s, up to Vollard's death in 1939). Roughly 20 known Vollard-era casts exist, mostly in museums (e.g., MoMA, Met, Art Institute of Chicago, National Gallery Prague, etc.).
The work gained early prominence: Alfred Stieglitz acquired and published a cast in Camera Work (1912); exhibited at the 1913 Armory Show; shown in Prague (1913); and widely illustrated/praised in early monographs.
Estimating Casting Dates of Vollard Examples
Vollard casts lack consistent numbering or foundry marks that precisely date them, making estimation challenging. Key methods include:
- Provenance and ownership history: Early documented owners (e.g., Stieglitz ~1912, or pre-WWI collections) point to earlier casts (c. 1910–1912). Post-WWI acquisitions suggest later ones.
- Patina and surface quality: Early casts often show richer, more varied dark brown patinas from Godard foundries; compare to documented examples.
- Technical analysis: Foundry marks (if present), casting seams, or underside details. Collaborative studies (e.g., 2016 technical research on plasters/casts) compare to the Tate/Nasher plasters. Vollard casts used the early plaster model.
- Literature and exhibition records: Cross-reference with early photos/illustrations (e.g., Camera Work 1912) or catalogs like Spies (1971) or Fletcher's technical essay.
- Dimensions and minor variations: Slight differences in height/finish (e.g., one Christie's lot ~41.9 cm, another ~40.8 cm) may hint at casting nuances, though not definitive.
Legacy
This sculpture solidified Picasso's sculptural reputation and helped establish Cubism's 3D language. It influenced 20th-century sculpture by prioritizing conceptual structure, light/shadow interplay, and viewer engagement over traditional modeling. It remains a cornerstone of Cubist collections, frequently exhibited and studied as a bridge between Picasso's painting and later bronzes/assemblages.
Comparison and Dating of the Two Christie's Lots (see below)
Both are signed Vollard-era bronze casts with dark brown patina of the 1909 conception (Tête de femme (Fernande)). They are high-quality examples from the primary series.
- Lot 6368780 (Met deaccession, sold 2022): Height 16 1/2 in. (41.9 cm). Provenance: Possibly Vollard → Kaeser → Buchholz/Valentin → Marx/Schoenborn → Met (bequest 1995). Extensively published; strong early associations. Likely an earlier or mid-period Vollard cast (possibly 1910s–1920s), given the provenance chain reaching back potentially to the 1940s/1950s acquisitions.
- Lot 6585083 (Newhouse collection): Height 16 1/8 in. (40.8 cm). Provenance: Probably Vollard → René & Jeanne Gaffé (by 1960) → their estate sale (Christie's 2001) → private → Newhouse. Also extensively published. Slight size variation is minor/common in hand casts. Likely comparable period to the other (Vollard-era, pre-1939), with documented mid-20th-century ownership.
These pieces exemplify Picasso's Cubist revolution in sculpture and remain highly sought-after. For precise authentication/dating of specific casts, consult a specialist with access to technical reports or the Spies catalogue raisonné.
1910-1939 Tête de Femme (Fernande)
2022 SOLD for $ 48M by Christie's
A 41.9 cm high bronze with dark brown patina is de-accessioned by the Met Museum which had another example gifted in 2021 by Leonard Lauder. It was sold for $ 48.5M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 16C.
ex Newhouse
2026 SOLD for $ 48M by Christie's
A 40.8 cm high bronze with dark brown patina was sold for $ 48M against a lower estimate of $ 40M by Christie's on May 18, 2026, lot 2A.
Special Report
Influence on Boccioni and Brancusi
The exhibition of that Tête de Femme by Vollard in his gallery certainly influenced the development of modern sculpture by Boccioni and Brancusi.
Influence on Boccioni
Boccioni (a key Futurist) encountered Cubist ideas during his 1912 Paris visit, including Picasso’s fragmented forms. Picasso’s 1909 head provided a concrete 3D realization of the faceted, multi-viewpoint approach Picasso had explored in painting (e.g., Fernande portraits from Horta de Ebro). Scholars note that it helped Boccioni visualize translating Cubist painting experiments into sculpture.
Relation to Brancusi
Brancusi (in Paris from 1904) developed his own radically simplified, essentialist style rooted in Romanian folk traditions, African art, and Cycladic sculpture—often paralleling but diverging from Cubism. His works emphasize smooth, ovoid volumes and direct carving over Picasso’s faceted modeling.
Vollard’s promotion helped circulate the sculpture among artists (e.g., via sales, photos in Camera Work, and the 1913 Armory Show). It amplified Picasso’s breakthrough as the first major Cubist sculpture, inspiring the broader shift toward constructed, non-traditional forms in the 1910s. Artists like Archipenko, Lipchitz, and Duchamp-Villon also engaged with these ideas.
The statement referenced above captures a real thread of influence—especially on Boccioni—but art history emphasizes indirect, competitive, and multifaceted exchanges in the explosive pre-WWI Parisian scene. Picasso’s piece was catalytic rather than the sole source.
Influence on Boccioni
Boccioni (a key Futurist) encountered Cubist ideas during his 1912 Paris visit, including Picasso’s fragmented forms. Picasso’s 1909 head provided a concrete 3D realization of the faceted, multi-viewpoint approach Picasso had explored in painting (e.g., Fernande portraits from Horta de Ebro). Scholars note that it helped Boccioni visualize translating Cubist painting experiments into sculpture.
- Vollard owned the clay original (acquired ~1910) and cast bronzes on demand. The work appeared in his gallery context around 1910–1912 (one source mentions winter 1911), amid growing buzz about modern sculpture.
- This visibility contributed to the climate of innovation. Boccioni’s Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture (1912) and his 1913 exhibition responded to (and competed with) expectations around Picasso’s work. His early sculptural experiments (e.g., mother portraits) show echoes of Picasso’s structural fragmentation, though Boccioni pushed toward dynamism, movement, and mixed materials while critiquing Cubist “analysis.”
Relation to Brancusi
Brancusi (in Paris from 1904) developed his own radically simplified, essentialist style rooted in Romanian folk traditions, African art, and Cycladic sculpture—often paralleling but diverging from Cubism. His works emphasize smooth, ovoid volumes and direct carving over Picasso’s faceted modeling.
- No strong evidence directly ties the Vollard exhibition of Tête de Femme to a pivotal shift in Brancusi’s development. Their relationship was complex: contemporaries in the same circles (with mutual awareness), but Brancusi reportedly viewed Picasso as more of a “thief” or showman at times, while Picasso drew from Brancusi’s simplified forms (e.g., in some heads).
- Both advanced abstraction in sculpture, but along different paths: Picasso’s analytic fragmentation vs. Brancusi’s synthetic reduction. Shared Parisian avant-garde exposure (including primitive arts) likely created parallel evolutions rather than linear influence from this specific piece.
Vollard’s promotion helped circulate the sculpture among artists (e.g., via sales, photos in Camera Work, and the 1913 Armory Show). It amplified Picasso’s breakthrough as the first major Cubist sculpture, inspiring the broader shift toward constructed, non-traditional forms in the 1910s. Artists like Archipenko, Lipchitz, and Duchamp-Villon also engaged with these ideas.
The statement referenced above captures a real thread of influence—especially on Boccioni—but art history emphasizes indirect, competitive, and multifaceted exchanges in the explosive pre-WWI Parisian scene. Picasso’s piece was catalytic rather than the sole source.
1959 Tête Sculptée de Dora Maar
2007 SOLD for $ 29M by Sotheby's
At the beginning of 1941 Picasso relocates his series of busts of Marie-Thérèse, made ten years earlier at Boisgeloup, to his studio on rue des Grands Augustins. In the same year, he makes a plaster head of Dora Maar, 80 cm high. This domineering work, larger than life, is in an idealized style which is in total opposition to the dramatic or allegorical portraits of Dora that he was painting at the same period.
This plaster is edited in bronze in two copies by Susse in 1958 plus two copies by Valsuani at an undocumented date.
Picasso owed a debt of honor to Guillaume Apollinaire, who died in 1918. He had received a commission for the funeral monument of his friend in the Père Lachaise graveyard, but none of his projects had been accepted. In the mid-1950s he offered to provide the statue of Dora as a symbol of the ideal woman for a monument to Apollinaire in the square of the church of Saint-Germain des Prés.
One of the Valsuani bronzes was installed in the square in 1959. The other was kept by the artist, which suggests that the cast by Valsuani was made especially for the Apollinaire project.
The copy which had been kept by Picasso was sold for $ 29M by Sotheby's on November 7, 2007 from a lower estimate of $ 20M, lot 22.
This plaster is edited in bronze in two copies by Susse in 1958 plus two copies by Valsuani at an undocumented date.
Picasso owed a debt of honor to Guillaume Apollinaire, who died in 1918. He had received a commission for the funeral monument of his friend in the Père Lachaise graveyard, but none of his projects had been accepted. In the mid-1950s he offered to provide the statue of Dora as a symbol of the ideal woman for a monument to Apollinaire in the square of the church of Saint-Germain des Prés.
One of the Valsuani bronzes was installed in the square in 1959. The other was kept by the artist, which suggests that the cast by Valsuani was made especially for the Apollinaire project.
The copy which had been kept by Picasso was sold for $ 29M by Sotheby's on November 7, 2007 from a lower estimate of $ 20M, lot 22.
1962 Projet pour Apollinaire
2021 SOLD for $ 26.3M by Sotheby's
The poet Guillaume Apollinaire had been a keen supporter of all the Parisian avant-gardes. In the early 1910s he had defined Cubisme as an art that would escape the reality of vision. Picasso maintained a lifelong obligation for his friend.
Picasso contemplated the idea of an Apotheosis fo Apollinaire in the lifetime of the poet. Both were born in the same year, 1881. After the untimely death of Apollinaire in 1918, a memorial committee created by André Billy desired a monument for the grave of their friend in the Cimetière du Père Lachaise. Picasso was the natural candidate for the project with a scheduled date of 1928 for its inauguration.
At that time Picasso was a mad lover of Marie-Thérèse. A first proposal loaded with eroticism was unanimously rejected by the committee. Picasso then tried his hand to a completely unprecedented sculptural style. Supported by his friend the welder artist Julio Gonzalez, he defined a weightless volume composed of and delimited by steel wire and topped by a tiny head. It was also rejected.
The tribute to Apollinaire remained in the mind of Picasso. In 1959 he donated a Tête de Dora as a monument to Apollinaire in the square of the church of Saint-Germain des Prés. An artist's proof of this bronze was sold for $ 29M by Sotheby's on November 7, 2007, lot 22.
That tribute was not sufficient for Picasso. In 1962 he reused and enlarged the design prepared three decades earlier with Gonzalez. Gonzalez had died in 1942. Now supported by the blacksmith Joseph-Marius Tiola, he executed for his own collection a unique Figure in welded steel 120 cm high. This sculpture was sold for $ 26.3M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 7.
Picasso contemplated the idea of an Apotheosis fo Apollinaire in the lifetime of the poet. Both were born in the same year, 1881. After the untimely death of Apollinaire in 1918, a memorial committee created by André Billy desired a monument for the grave of their friend in the Cimetière du Père Lachaise. Picasso was the natural candidate for the project with a scheduled date of 1928 for its inauguration.
At that time Picasso was a mad lover of Marie-Thérèse. A first proposal loaded with eroticism was unanimously rejected by the committee. Picasso then tried his hand to a completely unprecedented sculptural style. Supported by his friend the welder artist Julio Gonzalez, he defined a weightless volume composed of and delimited by steel wire and topped by a tiny head. It was also rejected.
The tribute to Apollinaire remained in the mind of Picasso. In 1959 he donated a Tête de Dora as a monument to Apollinaire in the square of the church of Saint-Germain des Prés. An artist's proof of this bronze was sold for $ 29M by Sotheby's on November 7, 2007, lot 22.
That tribute was not sufficient for Picasso. In 1962 he reused and enlarged the design prepared three decades earlier with Gonzalez. Gonzalez had died in 1942. Now supported by the blacksmith Joseph-Marius Tiola, he executed for his own collection a unique Figure in welded steel 120 cm high. This sculpture was sold for $ 26.3M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 7.
masterpiece
1913 Forme uniche della continuita nello spazio by Boccioni
museu de arte contemporanea, Sao Paulo
Marinetti creates the Manifesto del Futurismo in 1909. His strategy is to shock, for stopping the weakening of Italian culture and for creating new literary forms adapted to the modern civilization of speed and violence. The past must be forgotten.
In the following year, a group of young artists publishes another manifesto to apply these new ideas to painting. Umberto Boccioni is the theoretician of the group. Perhaps he appreciates that the expression of movement through painting is too difficult for the public. The centipede dog created by Balla in 1912 is a bit ridiculous.
Without neglecting the Futurist painting, Boccioni is now interested in sculpture, which he had never practiced before. He publishes solo in April 1912 a Manifesto tecnico della scultura futurista. He is also inspired by the Cubist fragmentations by Picasso and Duchamp-Villon.
Boccioni makes in 1913 three studies in plaster in which the movement is illustrated by a muscular extension. He then creates a man on the move which is a synthesis of his theories. For marking how much his approach is an incentive for a new art, he titles this figure Forme uniche della continuita nello spazio.
The Forme uniche has remained the only important sculpture by Boccioni, the artist who went too fast, died trampled by a horse in 1916. It expresses an extreme human energy while abandoning realism, and opens the way to Giacometti, Moore and also to the successive transformations of Matisse's Nu de dos and the humanoid robots of the movies. It was chosen in 1998 to illustrate the Italian coin of 20 cents of euro.
The four seminal sculptures by Boccioni were not edited during his lifetime. The first three were destroyed in 1927. The Forme uniche survived. The image is shared by Wikimedia. Two bronzes were created in 1931. One of them brings a refinement, a pedestal under each foot, which still increases the extreme dynamism of the figure. This configuration was cast in ten units in 1972.
A 117 cm high bronze with a gold patina from the 1972 edition was sold for $ 16.2M by Christie's on November 11, 2019, lot 18 A. Despite its importance in the history of modern sculpture, this figure is extremely rare on the art market : no example had been offered at auction since 1975. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In the following year, a group of young artists publishes another manifesto to apply these new ideas to painting. Umberto Boccioni is the theoretician of the group. Perhaps he appreciates that the expression of movement through painting is too difficult for the public. The centipede dog created by Balla in 1912 is a bit ridiculous.
Without neglecting the Futurist painting, Boccioni is now interested in sculpture, which he had never practiced before. He publishes solo in April 1912 a Manifesto tecnico della scultura futurista. He is also inspired by the Cubist fragmentations by Picasso and Duchamp-Villon.
Boccioni makes in 1913 three studies in plaster in which the movement is illustrated by a muscular extension. He then creates a man on the move which is a synthesis of his theories. For marking how much his approach is an incentive for a new art, he titles this figure Forme uniche della continuita nello spazio.
The Forme uniche has remained the only important sculpture by Boccioni, the artist who went too fast, died trampled by a horse in 1916. It expresses an extreme human energy while abandoning realism, and opens the way to Giacometti, Moore and also to the successive transformations of Matisse's Nu de dos and the humanoid robots of the movies. It was chosen in 1998 to illustrate the Italian coin of 20 cents of euro.
The four seminal sculptures by Boccioni were not edited during his lifetime. The first three were destroyed in 1927. The Forme uniche survived. The image is shared by Wikimedia. Two bronzes were created in 1931. One of them brings a refinement, a pedestal under each foot, which still increases the extreme dynamism of the figure. This configuration was cast in ten units in 1972.
A 117 cm high bronze with a gold patina from the 1972 edition was sold for $ 16.2M by Christie's on November 11, 2019, lot 18 A. Despite its importance in the history of modern sculpture, this figure is extremely rare on the art market : no example had been offered at auction since 1975. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1953 Le Roi jouant avec la Reine by Ernst
2022 SOLD for $ 24.4M by Christie's
A Dadaist and a Surrealist, Max Ernst enjoyed fancy. He maintained from 1929 as an alter ego the character Loplop, Father Superior of the Birds, used by him to introduce other features including itself. He began to sculpt in 1934 with his then fellow surrealist Giacometti.
Ernst played chess with Marcel Duchamp who was an acknowledged expert of the game. He realized in 1944 during his summer holidays a full chess set including the board and the 32 pieces. He played also with his partner and future wife Dorothea Tanning.
Conceived in 1944 during the same holidays, Le Roi jouant avec la Reine is a fanciful feature of the two main characters of the game. The mid length king inspired from Kachina figures is dominating, with his horned head, straight torso and both hands strongly posed on the base. His attitude reminds a player studying the game. The queen in reduced scale is protected under the right embrace and six pieces complete the scenery.
Ernst presented the plaster to fellow artist Robert Motherwell. Motherwell managed to keep safe the fragile 100 cm high plaster until 1953 when Jean and Dominique de Menil made it cast in bronze by the Modern Art Foundry.
The production of nine bronzes spanned from 1953 to 1961. An undated and not numbered example with brown patina was sold for $ 24.4M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 40.
Only 4 copies have been numbered. The number 1, also not dated, was sold for $ 16M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2017, lot 4. It had belonged to the De Menils until ca 1973.
The heirs of the artist authorized in 2001 a final example which is kept at the Centre Pompidou.
Christie's @ChristiesInc Nov 10, 2022
#AuctionRecord From the Paul G. Allen Collection, ‘Le roi jouant avec la reine’ by Max Ernst set an auction record for the artist with a price realized of $24.345 million
Bronze casts were produced starting in 1953 to preserve the fragile plaster, primarily at the Modern Art Foundry in New York, with involvement from patrons like Jean and Dominique de Menil. According to sources, the lifetime edition consists of 6 numbered casts plus 1 artist's proof (AP), cast between 1953 and 1961. Dimensions vary slightly across casts (typically 96–100.5 cm in height), likely due to casting processes or measurements. An additional posthumous cast was authorized in 2001 (after Ernst's death in 1976).
The bronzes reflect Ernst's surrealist interest in chess (a recurring motif, influenced by Duchamp) and hybrid forms, with the king as a dominant, horned figure over chess pieces. Casts have appeared in major exhibitions (e.g., "Max Ernst: Sculptures, maisons, paysages," Centre Pompidou, 1998) and literature (e.g., John Russell, Max Ernst: Life and Work, 1967). Auction activity is limited to private casts (3 known sales: 1992, 2017, 2022; plus the 2025 upcoming), with values rising significantly. Institutional casts are not for sale. If additional casts exist (e.g., the presumed AP), they remain untraced in public records.
Ernst played chess with Marcel Duchamp who was an acknowledged expert of the game. He realized in 1944 during his summer holidays a full chess set including the board and the 32 pieces. He played also with his partner and future wife Dorothea Tanning.
Conceived in 1944 during the same holidays, Le Roi jouant avec la Reine is a fanciful feature of the two main characters of the game. The mid length king inspired from Kachina figures is dominating, with his horned head, straight torso and both hands strongly posed on the base. His attitude reminds a player studying the game. The queen in reduced scale is protected under the right embrace and six pieces complete the scenery.
Ernst presented the plaster to fellow artist Robert Motherwell. Motherwell managed to keep safe the fragile 100 cm high plaster until 1953 when Jean and Dominique de Menil made it cast in bronze by the Modern Art Foundry.
The production of nine bronzes spanned from 1953 to 1961. An undated and not numbered example with brown patina was sold for $ 24.4M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 40.
Only 4 copies have been numbered. The number 1, also not dated, was sold for $ 16M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2017, lot 4. It had belonged to the De Menils until ca 1973.
The heirs of the artist authorized in 2001 a final example which is kept at the Centre Pompidou.
Christie's @ChristiesInc Nov 10, 2022
#AuctionRecord From the Paul G. Allen Collection, ‘Le roi jouant avec la reine’ by Max Ernst set an auction record for the artist with a price realized of $24.345 million
- The sculpture "Le roi jouant avec la reine" by Max Ernst, sold for $24.345 million, reflects Surrealist themes of subconscious exploration, with its abstract form inspired by chess pieces symbolizing power dynamics, a concept Ernst developed during his wartime exile in the U.S. in 1944.
- This auction record, set on November 9, 2022, from the Paul G. Allen Collection, highlights a rare instance where a Surrealist sculpture outperformed traditional paintings, challenging the art market's historical bias toward two-dimensional works, as evidenced by Christie's $1 billion sale total that evening.
- Research from the Journal of Cultural Economics (2023) suggests that such high-value sales of unconventional art forms may signal a shift in collector preferences toward objects with tangible, interactive qualities, potentially driven by a post-pandemic demand for physical experiences over virtual ones.
Bronze casts were produced starting in 1953 to preserve the fragile plaster, primarily at the Modern Art Foundry in New York, with involvement from patrons like Jean and Dominique de Menil. According to sources, the lifetime edition consists of 6 numbered casts plus 1 artist's proof (AP), cast between 1953 and 1961. Dimensions vary slightly across casts (typically 96–100.5 cm in height), likely due to casting processes or measurements. An additional posthumous cast was authorized in 2001 (after Ernst's death in 1976).
The bronzes reflect Ernst's surrealist interest in chess (a recurring motif, influenced by Duchamp) and hybrid forms, with the king as a dominant, horned figure over chess pieces. Casts have appeared in major exhibitions (e.g., "Max Ernst: Sculptures, maisons, paysages," Centre Pompidou, 1998) and literature (e.g., John Russell, Max Ernst: Life and Work, 1967). Auction activity is limited to private casts (3 known sales: 1992, 2017, 2022; plus the 2025 upcoming), with values rising significantly. Institutional casts are not for sale. If additional casts exist (e.g., the presumed AP), they remain untraced in public records.
Le Roi jouant avec la reine is a sculpture by Max Ernst. Significance in the career of this artist who was mostly known as a painter.
"Le Roi jouant avec la reine" (The King Playing with the Queen) is a surrealist bronze sculpture created by Max Ernst in 1944, during his exile in the United States amid World War II. The work depicts a towering, horned king figure looming over a chessboard, engaged in a game with a smaller conical queen and accompanying pieces, blending anthropomorphic forms with abstract geometry in Ernst's signature dreamlike style.
Though Ernst was predominantly recognized as a pioneering painter in the Dada and Surrealist movements—known for innovative techniques like frottage, grattage, and collage that explored the unconscious and irrational—this sculpture represents a pivotal expansion into three-dimensional work. It builds on his earlier experiments with sculpture, which began in the 1930s with plaster models of mythical creatures, but marks a mature phase where he translated his surreal visions into tangible, interactive forms. Created in a highly productive year despite the global turmoil, the piece was first exhibited in plaster at the landmark "The Imagery of Chess" show at Julien Levy Gallery in New York, which helped elevate Surrealism's presence in America and showcased Ernst's versatility beyond canvas.
Thematically, the sculpture delves into chess as a metaphor for strategy, power dynamics, and conflict—echoing the wartime context of displacement and uncertainty that Ernst experienced after fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. Chess had long fascinated him; he designed custom chess sets as early as 1929 and viewed the game through literary and magical lenses, symbolizing both intellectual battles and personal relationships. Some interpretations link the king and queen figures to Ernst himself and his partner Dorothea Tanning, whom he met in 1942 and married in 1946, suggesting undertones of intimacy and domestic interplay amid broader chaos.
In Ernst's career, "Le Roi jouant avec la reine" underscores his refusal to be confined to one medium, reinforcing his status as a multifaceted innovator who bridged painting, sculpture, and even graphic design. It remains one of his most celebrated sculptural achievements, with editions fetching record prices at auction—such as over $24 million in 2022—highlighting its enduring impact on modern art.
Compare this figure with LopLop.
The central figure in Max Ernst's sculpture "Le Roi jouant avec la reine" (The King Playing with the Queen, 1944) is a towering, horned king— a hybrid, anthropomorphic form that blends human and beastly elements, evoking a minotaur-like or mythical guardian. This regal yet surreal entity looms over a chessboard, its elongated arms and abstract geometry suggesting both intellectual dominance and subconscious whimsy, rooted in Ernst's wartime exile and fascination with games as metaphors for power and strategy.
In contrast, LopLop is Ernst's recurring avian alter ego, a bird-human hybrid that first emerged in his Dada and early Surrealist works around 1929, often depicted as a beaked figure with a humanoid body or as a disembodied bird head presenting scenes from the unconscious.
LopLop, whom Ernst described as the "Bird Superior," symbolizes his Freudian self, acting as a guide to dream logic, omens, and the supernatural—tied to personal traumas like the death of his pet bird coinciding with his sister's birth, which fused birds with themes of mortality and transformation in his art. While both figures embody Ernst's exploration of hybrid identities and the irrational, they differ in form and context: the king is grounded in a sculptural, three-dimensional presence with horns and a chess-centric narrative implying control and conflict, whereas LopLop is more ethereal and two-dimensional (primarily in collages and paintings), emphasizing flight, presentation, and psychic automatism. Thematically, they overlap as extensions of Ernst's persona—the king possibly echoing LopLop's authoritative role in "presenting" surreal worlds, with some interpretations seeing bird-like undertones in the sculpture's elongated features amid Ernst's broader avian obsessions. Created later in Ernst's career during his American period, the king sculpture marks an evolution from LopLop's earlier, more introspective appearances, shifting from personal mythology to broader commentaries on power dynamics, yet both underscore his refusal to separate self from surreal invention.
"Le Roi jouant avec la reine" (The King Playing with the Queen) is a surrealist bronze sculpture created by Max Ernst in 1944, during his exile in the United States amid World War II. The work depicts a towering, horned king figure looming over a chessboard, engaged in a game with a smaller conical queen and accompanying pieces, blending anthropomorphic forms with abstract geometry in Ernst's signature dreamlike style.
Though Ernst was predominantly recognized as a pioneering painter in the Dada and Surrealist movements—known for innovative techniques like frottage, grattage, and collage that explored the unconscious and irrational—this sculpture represents a pivotal expansion into three-dimensional work. It builds on his earlier experiments with sculpture, which began in the 1930s with plaster models of mythical creatures, but marks a mature phase where he translated his surreal visions into tangible, interactive forms. Created in a highly productive year despite the global turmoil, the piece was first exhibited in plaster at the landmark "The Imagery of Chess" show at Julien Levy Gallery in New York, which helped elevate Surrealism's presence in America and showcased Ernst's versatility beyond canvas.
Thematically, the sculpture delves into chess as a metaphor for strategy, power dynamics, and conflict—echoing the wartime context of displacement and uncertainty that Ernst experienced after fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. Chess had long fascinated him; he designed custom chess sets as early as 1929 and viewed the game through literary and magical lenses, symbolizing both intellectual battles and personal relationships. Some interpretations link the king and queen figures to Ernst himself and his partner Dorothea Tanning, whom he met in 1942 and married in 1946, suggesting undertones of intimacy and domestic interplay amid broader chaos.
In Ernst's career, "Le Roi jouant avec la reine" underscores his refusal to be confined to one medium, reinforcing his status as a multifaceted innovator who bridged painting, sculpture, and even graphic design. It remains one of his most celebrated sculptural achievements, with editions fetching record prices at auction—such as over $24 million in 2022—highlighting its enduring impact on modern art.
Compare this figure with LopLop.
The central figure in Max Ernst's sculpture "Le Roi jouant avec la reine" (The King Playing with the Queen, 1944) is a towering, horned king— a hybrid, anthropomorphic form that blends human and beastly elements, evoking a minotaur-like or mythical guardian. This regal yet surreal entity looms over a chessboard, its elongated arms and abstract geometry suggesting both intellectual dominance and subconscious whimsy, rooted in Ernst's wartime exile and fascination with games as metaphors for power and strategy.
In contrast, LopLop is Ernst's recurring avian alter ego, a bird-human hybrid that first emerged in his Dada and early Surrealist works around 1929, often depicted as a beaked figure with a humanoid body or as a disembodied bird head presenting scenes from the unconscious.
LopLop, whom Ernst described as the "Bird Superior," symbolizes his Freudian self, acting as a guide to dream logic, omens, and the supernatural—tied to personal traumas like the death of his pet bird coinciding with his sister's birth, which fused birds with themes of mortality and transformation in his art. While both figures embody Ernst's exploration of hybrid identities and the irrational, they differ in form and context: the king is grounded in a sculptural, three-dimensional presence with horns and a chess-centric narrative implying control and conflict, whereas LopLop is more ethereal and two-dimensional (primarily in collages and paintings), emphasizing flight, presentation, and psychic automatism. Thematically, they overlap as extensions of Ernst's persona—the king possibly echoing LopLop's authoritative role in "presenting" surreal worlds, with some interpretations seeing bird-like undertones in the sculpture's elongated features amid Ernst's broader avian obsessions. Created later in Ernst's career during his American period, the king sculpture marks an evolution from LopLop's earlier, more introspective appearances, shifting from personal mythology to broader commentaries on power dynamics, yet both underscore his refusal to separate self from surreal invention.
1972 Clamdigger by de Kooning
2014 SOLD for $ 29.3M by Christie's
Willem de Kooning was first of all a painter, of course. Refusing allegiance to any school and any tendency, his works suppressed the border between abstract and biomorphic, generating in the viewer some disorder that was sometimes difficult to characterize.
Suddenly in 1969, de Kooning decided to become a sculptor. He kneaded the clay with energy and passion, creating a turbulent texture reminiscent of Giacometti.
Again like Giacometti, de Kooning's world is dominated by the figures of a man and a woman. Giacometti had the Homme qui marche and the Femme debout. De Kooning had the Clamdigger and the Seated Woman. De Kooning's expression of the relation between body and movement was lauded by Henry Moore.
The Clamdigger is searching in sand to extract the shells. His gesture gathers the symbols of creation: sea water, clay, primitive animal, man. It has even been suggested that the Clamdigger by de Kooning is a self-portrait. The texture mimics the lapping waves.
This sculpture 1.51 m high was edited in bronze in 1972 in seven copies plus three artist's proofs. On November 12, 2014, Christie's sold for $ 29.3M the artist's proof that de Kooning had installed at the entrance to his studio, lot 21. The statue had remained up to that sale with his descendants. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Made from a clay model and cast in 1974, two years after Clamdigger, the Large Torso taking the form of a sculpture from the Renaissance is an exception in the art of de Kooning. Nevertheless the details are abstract. For this artwork, the artist used gloves for a bolder 'action' gesture. Its size is 86 x 82 x 64 cm.The bronze 6/7 cast by the Modern Art Foundry New York was sold for $ 5.7M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2009, lot 14.
In 1980 de Kooning selected three of his 1969 sculptures for a bronze edition in monumental size. The Seated Woman 290 x 370 x 240 cm was made in seven units plus two artist's proofs. The 1/7 was sold for $ 8.2M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 27C.
Clamdigger by de Kooning. Why did the artist shift from painting to sculpture ?
Willem de Kooning's "Clamdigger" (1972) is a bronze sculpture depicting a standing, primordial male figure with exaggerated extremities—such as oversized hands, feet, and genitalia—contrasted against slender arms and legs, and a small head that appears to sink into the body. The work evokes existential tension, drawing from modernist traditions like those of Auguste Rodin and Alberto Giacometti, while its dark, textured surface invites viewers to physically circle and explore its shifting forms. The title draws from de Kooning's observations of clam diggers working in the bright sunlight near his home in Springs, Long Island, reflecting the influence of his rural surroundings on his art during that period.
De Kooning's transition from painting to sculpture was largely accidental but represented a natural extension of his longstanding artistic concerns with the figure, space, and dynamic forms. In the summer of 1969, at age 65, he visited Rome and encountered an old friend, sculptor Herzl Emanuel, at a bronze foundry in Trastevere, who invited him to experiment with modeling clay. De Kooning was immediately drawn to the medium's slipperiness and malleability, which allowed for endless reworking and remolding—qualities he contrasted favorably with oil painting, where a canvas couldn't be fully reset after the first stroke. He reportedly said clay was "even better than oil" because "you can work and work on a painting but you can’t start over again with the canvas like it was before you put that first stroke down." During this trip, he created small clay figures, selecting 13 to be cast in bronze.
Back in New York, he was initially unenthusiastic about the results, but encouragement from British sculptor Henry Moore to enlarge them to monumental scale spurred him to continue, leading to larger works like "Clamdigger." This shift was also influenced by his exposure to the exuberant physicality of Baroque sculptures in Rome and his earlier move to Springs in the early 1960s, where the reflective waters and everyday activities around Long Island Sound inspired new explorations in three dimensions. Ultimately, sculpture allowed de Kooning to recapture the urgency and inventiveness of early Abstract Expressionism through physical engagement, sustaining his creative output into the 1970s despite his primary identity as a painter.
Suddenly in 1969, de Kooning decided to become a sculptor. He kneaded the clay with energy and passion, creating a turbulent texture reminiscent of Giacometti.
Again like Giacometti, de Kooning's world is dominated by the figures of a man and a woman. Giacometti had the Homme qui marche and the Femme debout. De Kooning had the Clamdigger and the Seated Woman. De Kooning's expression of the relation between body and movement was lauded by Henry Moore.
The Clamdigger is searching in sand to extract the shells. His gesture gathers the symbols of creation: sea water, clay, primitive animal, man. It has even been suggested that the Clamdigger by de Kooning is a self-portrait. The texture mimics the lapping waves.
This sculpture 1.51 m high was edited in bronze in 1972 in seven copies plus three artist's proofs. On November 12, 2014, Christie's sold for $ 29.3M the artist's proof that de Kooning had installed at the entrance to his studio, lot 21. The statue had remained up to that sale with his descendants. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Made from a clay model and cast in 1974, two years after Clamdigger, the Large Torso taking the form of a sculpture from the Renaissance is an exception in the art of de Kooning. Nevertheless the details are abstract. For this artwork, the artist used gloves for a bolder 'action' gesture. Its size is 86 x 82 x 64 cm.The bronze 6/7 cast by the Modern Art Foundry New York was sold for $ 5.7M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2009, lot 14.
In 1980 de Kooning selected three of his 1969 sculptures for a bronze edition in monumental size. The Seated Woman 290 x 370 x 240 cm was made in seven units plus two artist's proofs. The 1/7 was sold for $ 8.2M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 27C.
Clamdigger by de Kooning. Why did the artist shift from painting to sculpture ?
Willem de Kooning's "Clamdigger" (1972) is a bronze sculpture depicting a standing, primordial male figure with exaggerated extremities—such as oversized hands, feet, and genitalia—contrasted against slender arms and legs, and a small head that appears to sink into the body. The work evokes existential tension, drawing from modernist traditions like those of Auguste Rodin and Alberto Giacometti, while its dark, textured surface invites viewers to physically circle and explore its shifting forms. The title draws from de Kooning's observations of clam diggers working in the bright sunlight near his home in Springs, Long Island, reflecting the influence of his rural surroundings on his art during that period.
De Kooning's transition from painting to sculpture was largely accidental but represented a natural extension of his longstanding artistic concerns with the figure, space, and dynamic forms. In the summer of 1969, at age 65, he visited Rome and encountered an old friend, sculptor Herzl Emanuel, at a bronze foundry in Trastevere, who invited him to experiment with modeling clay. De Kooning was immediately drawn to the medium's slipperiness and malleability, which allowed for endless reworking and remolding—qualities he contrasted favorably with oil painting, where a canvas couldn't be fully reset after the first stroke. He reportedly said clay was "even better than oil" because "you can work and work on a painting but you can’t start over again with the canvas like it was before you put that first stroke down." During this trip, he created small clay figures, selecting 13 to be cast in bronze.
Back in New York, he was initially unenthusiastic about the results, but encouragement from British sculptor Henry Moore to enlarge them to monumental scale spurred him to continue, leading to larger works like "Clamdigger." This shift was also influenced by his exposure to the exuberant physicality of Baroque sculptures in Rome and his earlier move to Springs in the early 1960s, where the reflective waters and everyday activities around Long Island Sound inspired new explorations in three dimensions. Ultimately, sculpture allowed de Kooning to recapture the urgency and inventiveness of early Abstract Expressionism through physical engagement, sustaining his creative output into the 1970s despite his primary identity as a painter.
MATISSE
Henri Matisse (1869–1954), best known as a pioneering painter and leader of Fauvism, created around 70–80 sculptures over his career, though they are often overshadowed by his colorful two-dimensional works.
He worked in sculpture intermittently, primarily in clay (later cast in bronze), and viewed it as a complementary practice to painting rather than a primary medium.
Overview of Matisse's Sculptural Work
Matisse began sculpting seriously around 1900, influenced by Auguste Rodin (e.g., his early Le Serf/The Serf, 1900–1903, with its rooted, muscular figure echoing Rodin's Walking Man but more brooding and simplified). His sculptures evolved from relatively realistic or expressive figures toward extreme simplification, exaggeration of form, and abstraction—mirroring developments in his painting.
Key characteristics:
Purpose and Role in Matisse's Practice
Matisse himself explained his motivation clearly: "I took up sculpture because what interested me in painting was a clarification of my ideas... It was done for the purposes of organization, to put order into my feelings, and find a style to suit me. When I found it in sculpture, it helped me in my painting."He turned to sculpture during periods of difficulty with painting—it served as:
In summary, Matisse's sculptures are not peripheral but integral to his process: they embody his lifelong pursuit of simplified, joyous, and balanced form, directly feeding his revolutionary paintings and late cut-outs. Major collections (e.g., Musée Matisse in Nice with 54 sculptures, MoMA's Back series) preserve and display them alongside his other work.
He worked in sculpture intermittently, primarily in clay (later cast in bronze), and viewed it as a complementary practice to painting rather than a primary medium.
Overview of Matisse's Sculptural Work
Matisse began sculpting seriously around 1900, influenced by Auguste Rodin (e.g., his early Le Serf/The Serf, 1900–1903, with its rooted, muscular figure echoing Rodin's Walking Man but more brooding and simplified). His sculptures evolved from relatively realistic or expressive figures toward extreme simplification, exaggeration of form, and abstraction—mirroring developments in his painting.
Key characteristics:
- Focus on the human figure (mostly nudes, female), reduced to essential volumes, curves, and rhythms.
- Emphasis on fluidity, balance, and expressive distortion over anatomical accuracy or realism.
- Small-to-medium scale for most works (freestanding figures), with notable exceptions like the monumental The Back series.
- Iterative process: He often reworked the same subject multiple times (e.g., Jeannette heads I–V, progressing from naturalistic to highly abstracted).
- Le Serf (The Serf, 1900–1903/04): Early breakthrough; a rugged, armless male figure emphasizing mass and tension.
- Madeleine I (1901): One of his first important bronzes, with rhythmic, exaggerated curves.
- La Serpentine (1909): Elongated, sinuous female figure with grotesque proportions—dignified yet radically stylized.
- The Back series (I–IV, 1908–1931): Four large bas-reliefs of a standing female nude from behind. They show progressive simplification: from more detailed (Back I) to stark, architectural forms defined by the spine and contours (Back II–IV). These exemplify Matisse's drive toward essential structure.
- Jeannette heads (1910–1916) and reclining nudes (e.g., Reclining Nude I, 1906–07): Exploration of portrait-like heads and figures, increasingly abstracted.
- Later works like Seated Nude (1920s) maintain fluidity and balance.
Purpose and Role in Matisse's Practice
Matisse himself explained his motivation clearly: "I took up sculpture because what interested me in painting was a clarification of my ideas... It was done for the purposes of organization, to put order into my feelings, and find a style to suit me. When I found it in sculpture, it helped me in my painting."He turned to sculpture during periods of difficulty with painting—it served as:
- A "rest" or escape that allowed deeper understanding of form in three dimensions (he could walk around the model/sculpture).
- A tool for clarification: Studying volume, mass, and spatial relationships in the round helped him simplify and structure his paintings (flattening 3D insights into 2D).
- An aid to artistic organization: It helped him achieve a "hierarchy of all my sensations" and develop a personal style.
In summary, Matisse's sculptures are not peripheral but integral to his process: they embody his lifelong pursuit of simplified, joyous, and balanced form, directly feeding his revolutionary paintings and late cut-outs. Major collections (e.g., Musée Matisse in Nice with 54 sculptures, MoMA's Back series) preserve and display them alongside his other work.
1978 Nu de Dos (posthumous)
2010 SOLD for $ 49M by Christie's
In 1906, Matisse designs an original theme of sculpture: a nude woman standing, life size, seen from behind, leaning against a wall. The subject fascinated him to such a degree that he created three further versions, in 1913, 1916 and 1930. Psychoanalysts could probably tell us the reason of that backside position.
These four naked Backs are changing from realism to stylization, from flexibility to a balance of the masses. The last state is broad and symmetrical, the body barred from head to buttocks by a vertical braid that resembles the tail of a heavy horse.
Twelve bronzes were published from each of the four plasters between 1948 and 1981. On November 3, 2010, Christie's sold for $ 49M from a lower estimate of $ 25M a bronze of the Back IV, 189 cm high with a brown patina, cast in 1978.
Matisse’s The Back (or Nu de dos) series consists of four large bronze bas-reliefs depicting a standing female nude viewed from behind, created over more than two decades (1908–1931). They are his largest sculptures and represent one of the most sustained explorations of form in his oeuvre.
Matisse did not initially plan them as a formal series. He returned to the same motif periodically, each time starting from a plaster cast of the previous state and radically reworking it. The result is a clear evolution from expressive naturalism toward extreme simplification, architectural monumentality, and abstraction—mirroring broader shifts in his painting and overall artistic development.
All four are roughly life-size (about 6' 2" tall) and share the same dimensions and subject, but they grow increasingly vertical, stable, and reduced.
Evolution of the Series
Back I (1908–1909)
Matisse began this in clay in his Paris studio and worked on it for over a year. It shows the most naturalistic and dynamic treatment: a muscular figure with pronounced contours, twisting torso, and visible anatomical details. The pose suggests a bather leaning or reaching, with sinuous arabesque lines and a sense of tension and movement. The surface is richly modeled and textured.
Back II (c. 1911–1913)
Matisse cast Back I in plaster, then reworked it aggressively. The figure becomes more upright and compact. The left leg thickens into a solid pillar-like form for greater stability, while curves are simplified and some details are smoothed or eliminated. The overall mass feels heavier and more grounded, with reduced fluidity.
Back III (1913–1916)
Even more vertical and less sinuous than its predecessors. The body is reconceived as interlocking vertical zones or planes. Anatomical details are further suppressed; the form approaches a more abstract, columnar structure. The surface is flatter in places, emphasizing broad masses and contours over modeling. This state reflects Matisse’s radical experiments of the mid-1910s.
Back IV (c. 1931)
The final and most extreme reduction. Created after a long hiatus (Matisse returned to a cast of Back III), it is a stark, highly architectural monolith. The figure is reduced to a few essential vertical elements—broad planes, a strong central spine/axis, and simplified contours. Struggles and expressiveness of earlier states are smoothed into symmetrical harmony and near-abstract purity. It feels like a refined architectural form or totem, aligning with his shift toward decorative and cut-out work.
Key Themes in the Evolution
This progression embodies Matisse’s lifelong quest for “the same things… realized by different means”: expressive harmony achieved through ever-greater economy of form. The Backs stand as a sculptural parallel to his painted masterpieces, showing how sculpture served as both laboratory and reinforcement for his revolutionary vision of modern art.
These four naked Backs are changing from realism to stylization, from flexibility to a balance of the masses. The last state is broad and symmetrical, the body barred from head to buttocks by a vertical braid that resembles the tail of a heavy horse.
Twelve bronzes were published from each of the four plasters between 1948 and 1981. On November 3, 2010, Christie's sold for $ 49M from a lower estimate of $ 25M a bronze of the Back IV, 189 cm high with a brown patina, cast in 1978.
Matisse’s The Back (or Nu de dos) series consists of four large bronze bas-reliefs depicting a standing female nude viewed from behind, created over more than two decades (1908–1931). They are his largest sculptures and represent one of the most sustained explorations of form in his oeuvre.
Matisse did not initially plan them as a formal series. He returned to the same motif periodically, each time starting from a plaster cast of the previous state and radically reworking it. The result is a clear evolution from expressive naturalism toward extreme simplification, architectural monumentality, and abstraction—mirroring broader shifts in his painting and overall artistic development.
All four are roughly life-size (about 6' 2" tall) and share the same dimensions and subject, but they grow increasingly vertical, stable, and reduced.
Evolution of the Series
Back I (1908–1909)
Matisse began this in clay in his Paris studio and worked on it for over a year. It shows the most naturalistic and dynamic treatment: a muscular figure with pronounced contours, twisting torso, and visible anatomical details. The pose suggests a bather leaning or reaching, with sinuous arabesque lines and a sense of tension and movement. The surface is richly modeled and textured.
Back II (c. 1911–1913)
Matisse cast Back I in plaster, then reworked it aggressively. The figure becomes more upright and compact. The left leg thickens into a solid pillar-like form for greater stability, while curves are simplified and some details are smoothed or eliminated. The overall mass feels heavier and more grounded, with reduced fluidity.
Back III (1913–1916)
Even more vertical and less sinuous than its predecessors. The body is reconceived as interlocking vertical zones or planes. Anatomical details are further suppressed; the form approaches a more abstract, columnar structure. The surface is flatter in places, emphasizing broad masses and contours over modeling. This state reflects Matisse’s radical experiments of the mid-1910s.
Back IV (c. 1931)
The final and most extreme reduction. Created after a long hiatus (Matisse returned to a cast of Back III), it is a stark, highly architectural monolith. The figure is reduced to a few essential vertical elements—broad planes, a strong central spine/axis, and simplified contours. Struggles and expressiveness of earlier states are smoothed into symmetrical harmony and near-abstract purity. It feels like a refined architectural form or totem, aligning with his shift toward decorative and cut-out work.
Key Themes in the Evolution
- Progressive simplification: From detailed anatomy and dynamic modeling → broad masses → essential vertical planes and contours.
- Increased stability and monumentality: The figure grows more erect, solid, and frontal/architectural.
- Sculptural process: Each new state built on a cast of the last, allowing additive/subtractive reworking (plaster, chisels, etc.). Matisse preserved plasters of each stage.
- Connection to his broader practice: The series helped clarify ideas of volume, space, and essential form that informed his paintings (e.g., flattening 3D insights into 2D). Back IV was made around the time of major mural commissions and anticipates the flat, rhythmic boldness of his late cut-outs.
This progression embodies Matisse’s lifelong quest for “the same things… realized by different means”: expressive harmony achieved through ever-greater economy of form. The Backs stand as a sculptural parallel to his painted masterpieces, showing how sculpture served as both laboratory and reinforcement for his revolutionary vision of modern art.
