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| Pierre Bourdelle (1901-1966) |
| African Animals panel. Pierre incorporated phosphorescent powders into the when he made it. If you put a black-light on it the animals and the fire-like area around the dancers glow; hence, the unusual color for the elephant. His technique of carving heated battleship linoleum with wood-carving tools to create a low-relief bas relief, and then painting on layers of lacquer was an adaptation of the Chinese lacquer paintings on carved wood. 25" H x 24" W Price: $3,400.00 |
| Detail of the African Animals panel |
| Panther panel. Pierre liked to use various metal leafs (e.g., "gold" [brass] leaf and "silver" [aluminum] leaf). These he would often treat with sea sponges dipped in chemicals to create lush, mottled colorations. In the Panther Panel he painted the leaf adhesive on in brush strokes to create a painterly effect for where the silver and gold leaf attached. Then he painted directly onto the gold & silver leaf with the lacquers to create a cross-hatched mosaic-like effect for the background and the eyes. 24" H x 24" W Price: $7,995.00 |
| Metal Mosaic Mayan-Style Jaguar Mask (lots of views) Pierre loved sitting at his large dining table after dinner and working on projects there (often with the TV going and his cat in his lap) that were strictly for himself -- the non-commissioned pieces. This was one of those rare items. All his life he had a passionate connection with cats -- large, small, wild, domestic, tattered, pedigreed -- they all held him in their spell. See also his carved linoleum of a panther (right). Another of his cats can be seen {CLICK HERE] This original sculpture is 50 years old, measures 8" from ear-to-ear, 5" high, and almost 4" front-to-back. It weighs about a pound, but the spirit of the man and energy of this piece give it great power -- it seems much larger than it actually is, and it changes so often that it sometimes seems slightly alive. . Price: $1,520.00 |
| Profile/Cross Pierre created this on the band saw using 1/4"-thick copper. I have no idea where he came across such thick copper. It is a strikingly simple piece that always draws notice. Price: $1,250.00 |
| Eagle (Hammered & Riveted Aluminum) Pierre created this on the band saw using 1/8"-thick aluminum. It was a preliminary sketch for a bank's commission. They found it too ferocious; esp. since it was the height of anti-war sentiment over Vietnam. After many years the bank closed, the final eagle was taken down and is now on Stevens Institute of Technology's Library (Hoboken, NJ). Price: $9,620.00 |
| Pierre Bourdelle (1901-1966) Pierre Emile Emmanuel van Parys Bourdelle was the only son of the world-renowned monumental sculptor, Émile-Antoine Bourdelle. Pierre grew up in Paris, with summers spent with his grandfather (Antoine Bordelles) in the foothills of the Pyrenees around Montauban. There he was surrounded by his relatives who were shepherds, goatherds, woodcarvers and cabinet makers. When he was 15 he lied about his age to be able to fight in WWI (as a bi-plane pilot), since he was too young to legally enlist. When his bi-plane caught fire and plummeted to the ground his ear drums were destroyed -- leaving him profoundly deaf for the rest of his life; a valuable artist's asset for when he needed to focus on a project and tune out distractions. He came to America to be an artist on his own merits and separate from being in the shadow of his father. He was doing well when WWII propelled him to join the fray again -- this time he was told he was too old. He sold whatever he could and became a volunteer ambulance driver for the American Field Service (AFS). He recorded the horrors of war on whatever he had at hand -- muslin for wounds, gauze, tape, and sometimes paper. Being deaf, he often could catch a good nap under the safety of his ambulance -- and not be awakened by an outbreak of renewed bombing & fighting. A few sets of his printed war drawings are still around, but most are locked away by their owners. War, as he tried to convey with his drawings, is not this surgically precise strategy that only knocks out the subjects we target -- it rends body parts and emotional trauma into searingly unforgettable moments that don't fade away, and cause the observer of these drawings to turn away -- not something to frame and hang on your wall. In one of his letters to/for the AFS Letters (No. 40, Sept. 1945) he wrote about what war was for him. You will find this below, along with a link to his war drawings, and the cover of one of the AFS Letters that he did the drawing for. When Pierre returned home he married and started a new life. Many of his best pieces were done during this last 18 years of his life. Below are some of these items that are for sale. |
| From AFS Letters, No. 40, September 1945: ONE MORE BATTLE, PLEASE Looking back at the time spent in the American Field Service one is undecided as to the value of one's individual contribution. Does a drop of water make the ocean, just because without drops of water there would be no ocean? The fact that one man drove an ambulance around a battlefield affects the total picture of war very little. Ambulances, however, carry many patients. Out of a thousand "cases", one human life might not have been spared if an ambulance had not happened to be around. This single opportunity justifies the attempt. The bloody "casualty" on a stretcher is not anyone we know, yet it is the most precious thing in the world -- it is Humanity! By virtue of forces beyond the control of the individual, everyone is on one side or on the other, whether one chooses to participate in war or not. The only choice left to a man is whether he will be a burden to his nation, thereby giving help to the enemy, or prove his own manhood to himself. Neutrality is not possible. For the man who is refused a weapon, ambulance work is a stirring job. Somewhere, deep in the human conscience, is the knowledge that war is avoidable, precedents to the contrary. After all, man means intelligence. War is the failure of intelligence to solve a problem of human relations. Coming home, the first thing that strikes one is that America is blessedly unaware of the horrors of war. It is not selfishness -- it is just human nature. One feels a prick more than a mutilation. Imagination alone cannot conceive the amplitude of human suffering. A lot of American boys died to make sure that American homes should never know. The second shock comes with the realization of the affluence of the American nation. The terrifying want of the other side is not easily forgotten. The third realization is frightening: America does not appear to have a concrete world policy. A lot of internal problems remain just as unsolved as ever: prejudices, social reforms, isolationism, tariff protection, monopolies. The problem of ethnic/religious prejudice, widely discussed in the press, had nothing to do with the war. It remains a domestic problem that could be solved better in the mind than by being dragged in the mud of foreign battlefields. Isolationism is threatening to become the major issue. It is a tradition in America, justified in the past, hardly acceptable today, deadly tomorrow. America cannot avoid being mixed up in the quarrels of other nations. It is time for the public to realize that a twig of tea growing on the banks of the Yang Tze River can affect the fat on a Long Island duckling’s breast. As long as a New Guinea native gets a dollar a year to extract gold from a mine, or a fellah 20 cents a day to tow a ship (with which generous stipend these human beings are supposed to raise a family and to sing the chorus of Progress), we cannot call our social structure anything but a fortress. We are free, yes, only inside the enclosure. Freedom belongs to all men, in every country. He does not progress, really, who progresses alone. There is solidarity of the whole of humanity. We have not defeated the [enemy] to destroy a potential competitor. If this was the reason for all wars we would have fought our allies as well. We are not fighting the Japanese to eradicate a cut rate dealer -- we fight imperialism. We fight the sword with a sword to break all the swords! It is a common mistake to refer to America as a "young country". America is the oldest "free” country in the world. We have experience in freedom and we have tested its mettle. We can show its magnificent benefits and we can show how it should be used. Others are looking upon us for help and we must give this help without hope of return. If we fail in our mission as "the best people on earth", the world will look down on us and feel that we only wanted to be safe. Humanity can be compared to a body. On the spine of China there is a burden. Some interesting thoughts are in the head of France. The grasp of England holds a delicate mechanism. Russia's legs tramp stolidly on. For some reason, America seems to be the world's conscience. Surplus food, clothing, machinery, capital are only temporary relief and there never is enough to go around. I remember the discomfiture of a native to whom I once gave a precious can of food; he would still be starving if I had not brought a can opener. The can |
| The can opener is education. So far, education is not all it should be. In the civilized countries education is more or less a compound of yesterday's knowledge applied toward filling tomorrow's jobs. Culture, the appreciation of beauty and the wisdom in life, should be more important. Many know the historical exploits of Tamerland, Napoleon, and Hitler, while only a few people can identity Erathostenes, Lister and Sir Alexander Fleming with their far more worthwhile achievements. The saga of brutality is respectfully taught in preference to the majesty of intelligence. It is about time that Alexander's shadow got out of the sun's way. Fortunately, we have something better to offer than the text books and propaganda. We have the American man -- his example. I don't know how much the evangelist or the politician achieved "in parbibus infidelium”, but I know what an enterprising American does: he organizes without paying attention to customs. He gets results without ramming them down the onlooker's throat. He gets labor without oppressing. He likes people and they like his sunny disposition, his drive, his fearlessness. Other people call him “crazy", with wistfulness. Soon they ape him. The miracle of America is not the achievement of machines or gadgets, it is the sheer quality of being human, friendly, unprejudiced, of making himself loved. It is an attribute of character. Can we rid the world of hate? Can we give it that love of which we have so much? To achieve ultimate peace is not beyond the scope of imagination. International competition must be curbed. There never will be any hope of stability as long as nations are allowed to become, or remain, entirely self sufficient. Natural deficiencies should be supplemented from outside. Nations are respectable as sentimental, as competitive bodies. They make war inevitable. If war essentials were divided among all nations, each nation to one essential only, war would become a problem of getting together instead of splitting away. No world alliance will ever last outside of this simple expedient. It is a common belief, and a nefarious one, that war makes Progress. The only Progress achieved through war is to ignore our self made restrictions -- monopolies and patents for the common good. Outside of that the advances in bombers do not benefit peacetime aviation beyond what seven years of normal endeavor will have achieved. Progress is only as good as the human beings that use it. The measure of Progress is in the heart. The spirit of Progress has its own beauty, but this beauty is that of man's soul. Progress is not the privilege of one single nation -- it is the rightful inheritance of humanity as a whole. We Americans shall sing the proud song of the broad axe to others, but we shall accept that they might prefer contemplation to enterprise, meditation to the restlessness of science. Their truth is as much a part of the whole truth as our part is. Let's offer what we have; let's not tolerate any barrier against our influence. Let's not erect any fence around any other influence. We know what we have to offer. We don't know what others have to give us. Some of it is certain to be good. Let's trade thoughts, methods, and people. The challenge is worthy of American energy. We might even succeed a little sooner, a little better, than we should expect. We might suffer set backs, but we should never give up trying. Thus, and thus only, we shall win the last war, on the last battle ground, for the Brotherhood of Man. |