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Robert Wlerick (1882-1944)

Code: 10312

Dimensions:

Bust of a Young Girl 'Recueillement'

Bronze with golden patina.

Signed R Wlerick

L Thinot fondeur Paris 4/10

Provenance: The collection of Arnold Haskell - director of The Royal Ballet School, writer and collector.

Conceived in 1943 and cast after the war.

Bibl: Robert Wlerick - An Anthology of Words and Images, 1989. illus page 7 & 70.

A cast is in the collection of Musee Despiau- Wlerick Mont de Marsan, south west France.

Exib : Musee Rodin, Robert Wlerick centenary exhibition 1882, (another cast)

Ville d'Avery 1972, (another cast). Gallerie Barbizon, 'Despiau et Wlerick' 1973

Robert Wlerick A Retrospective Exhibition May- June 1976, Bruton Gallery Someset.

Birmingham City Museums and Art Gallery, July-August 1976.(another cast) No.19.

'In the sculptor's eye are images of a girl and of a woman in reflective mood, timeless' -  Wlerick.

Robert Wlerick's last bust completed 99 days before his death.

The model was Jacqueline, granddaughter of  Louise, Wlerick's housekeeper.

In his introduction to the 1976, Robert Wlerick exhibition at Birmingham City Art Gallery Haskell wrote;

'Robert Wlerick, discovered by Rodin acclaimed by Bourdelle and Despiau and hailed as the herald of the avant-garde by Guillaume Apollinaire. Wlerick remains little known outside France having turned down offers and contracts from famous dealer- impresarios of the day.

He died at the height of his powers  during the war before his completion of his statue of Marechal Foch. His output is comparatively small around 150 works, 100 of which are in museums.'

'Recueillement' is a fine work showing the influence of Florence's renaissance sculptors and a rediscovery of the timeless sculpture that so impressed Rodin in 1912, Wlerick's bust, 'La Petite Landaise'.