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A bust of a woman with her hair in a bun.

A sculpture of the head of woman with her hair tightly drawn back from her face, and gathered in a bun at the back of her head. The chin is raised, and the head leans slightly to the right. The surface of the bust is lightly irregular, the surface is reflective. The base of the piece is rough, the neck of the model emerges from it.

Gallery Text

Though largely forgotten today, Despiau was a leading sculptor in the early twentieth century. Described by one scholar as the “French Donatello,” he trained at both the École des Arts Décoratifs and the École des Beaux-Arts. He then worked as a stone carver for the renowned sculptor Auguste Rodin from 1907 until he was drafted into World War I. Despiau was celebrated enthusiastically in the United States; his first solo exhibition was held in New York, and his work was collected avidly by American patrons.

This sculpture is one of a series of bronzes Despiau — a distinguished portraitist — made of artists and their wives. Henri de Waroquier was a painter, printmaker, and sculptor who had studied with Despiau. In 1918, he married his second wife, Suzanne Plassard, the daughter of a Parisian parfumier; when she died, de Waroquier declared, “I have lost my soul.”

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1951.83
People
Charles Despiau, French (Mont-de-Marsan, France 1874 - 1946 Paris, France)
Title
Suzanne de Waroquier
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
1927
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/229050

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1220, European Art, 19th–20th century, Collection of Maurice Wertheim, Class of 1906
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast
Dimensions
40.3 x 23.2 x 28.3 cm (15 7/8 x 9 1/8 x 11 1/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: proper left rear.: C. Despiau
  • inscription: proper l.r.: 2 / 6
  • stamp: proper l.r. beneath signature: CIRE / C. VALSUANI / PERDUE

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Maurice Wertheim, New York, NY, 1939, Bequest to the Fogg Art Museum, 1951.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest from the Collection of Maurice Wertheim, Class of 1906
Copyright
© Charles Despiau / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Accession Year
1951
Object Number
1951.83
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK HAS SIGNIFICANT LOAN RESTRICTIONS BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

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Publication History

  • Guy Eglinton, "Looking Backward", Creative Art (New York, July 1928), vol. 3, pp. xli-xliv, repr. on p. xli
  • Léon Deshairs, C. Despiau (Paris, 1930), 82, figs. 36-37 (repr. on cat. pp. 36-37)
  • Dorothy Adlow, "The Home Forum", The Christian Science Monitor (July 12, 1946), repr.
  • Alfred M. Frankfurter, "Today's Collectors: Modern Milestones", Art News (June 1946), vol. XLV, no. 4, p. 64
  • French Painting since 1870, lent by Maurice Wertheim, Class of 1906, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1946), pp. 76-77, repr.
  • The Maurice Wertheim Catalogue: Modern French Art-- Monet to Picasso, exh. cat., North Carolina Museum of Art (Raleigh, NC, 1960)
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection: Manet to Picasso, exh. cat., The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Houston, TX, 1962), p. 66, pl. 31
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, exh. cat., Maine State Museum (Augusta, ME, 1972), no. 8, repr.
  • Vivien Raynor, "Art: Impressionist Show at the I.B.M. Gallery" [review], The New York Times (New York, NY, April 26, 1985), p. C24
  • John O'Brian, Degas to Matisse: the Maurice Wertheim Collection, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. and Fogg Art Museum (New York, NY and Cambridge, MA, 1988), no. 42, pp. 142-143, repr. p. 143
  • Elizabeth M. Rudy, "Researching the Wertheim Collection at the Harvard Art Museums", Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals (Summer 2014), Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 301-6

Exhibition History

  • French Painting since 1870 lent by Maurice Wertheim, Class of 1906, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 06/01/1946 - 09/07/1946; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 07/01/1953 - 09/13/1953
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 07/01/1952 - 09/14/1952
  • French Paintings Since 1870 from the Maurice Wertheim Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 06/01/1953 - 09/30/1953
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 06/15/1957 - 09/15/1957
  • Unidentified Exhibition, Council of Jewish Women, 1957, Council of Jewish Women, New York, 10/25/1957 - 11/02/1957
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 06/10/1958 - 08/31/1958
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection: Modern French Art--Monet to Picasso, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 06/17/1960 - 09/04/1960
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection: Manet to Picasso, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, 06/13/1962 - 09/02/1962
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, 06/20/1963 - 09/01/1963
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, 06/24/1965 - 09/07/1965
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, 09/03/1968 - 09/22/1968
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Maine State Museum, Augusta, 06/01/1972 - 09/01/1972
  • Manet to Matisse: The Maurice Wertheim Collection, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York, 04/09/1985 - 05/25/1985
  • Re-View: S427 Impressionist & Postimpressionist Art, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/02/2008 - 06/18/2011
  • 32Q: 1220 Wertheim, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu