FRENCH BAIGNEUSE AU TURBAN (BATHER WITH A TURBAN), Robert Wlérick

1882 - 1944

Robert Wlérick

signed: R Wlérick and inscribed: F. Barbedienne Fondeur Paris and numbered: 1/50

bronze, green brown patina, on a veined green marble base
bronze: 43cm., 17in.
base: 4 by 31cm., 1 1/2 by 12 1/4 in.

Provenance:
Robert Wlerick was born in France to a Belgian family, and moved to Toulouse to study. From 1905, he started exhibiting at the Société National des Beaux-Arts and at the Salons des Tuileries. His work, specifically his la Petite Landaise, was praised by Rodin. Several retrospective exhibitions have been organised for Wlerick, perhaps most importantly the 1995 exhibition at the Musée Bourdelle in Paris: Robert Wlérick - Études, Esquisses, Dessins.

Wlerick first modelled the present work in 1919, having just been demobilised after World War I. His wife served as a model for the Baigneuse.

RELATED LITERATURE
Robert Wlérick (1882-1944), exh. cat. Musée Rodin and Musée Despiau-Wlérick, Mont-de-Marsan, Paris, 1982, pp. 15-20.