Alfred Boucher

This sublimely beautiful and rare bust of La Jeunesse by Boucher recalls one of the artists most celebrated model, Volubilis, 1896-1897, in the position of the head and the treatment of the face and hair. In his seminal Boucher monograph, Jacques Piette notes that the present model represents Boucher's mastery of the art of portraiture, and in the facial expression, a great sensibility (op. cit., p. 325).

Only two versions of the model are known, the present marble, and another, in which the model is draped, in the Nogent-sur-Seine museum (inv. no. 993.003; Piette, op. cit., no. PB73-2). The present bust is illustrated in an old archival photograph from Boucher's atelier, circa 1901-1902, which is published by Piette (op. cit., p. 325).

The present marble is exceptional for the freshness and high quality of the carving, and the excellent condition in which it is preserved.

Alfred Boucher (1850-1934)

Alfred Boucher created some of the most delicate and alluring nudes of the late 19^thCentury, and was famed for his ability to ‘célébrer avec amour le corps féminin’ [lovingly celebrate the female body] (Lucien Morel-Payen, La Tribune de l’Aube, 1933). Although he also cast his models in bronze, Boucher’s skill is epitomised in his marbles, where he manipulates the stone into the smooth and glistening surfaces of skin, sometimes setting it against the contrast of hard rocks, as discussed above. 

Boucher came from a modest family in Nogent-sur-Seine, the son of a gardener and a housekeeper. His parents worked for the sculptor Marius Ramus (1805-1888) and it was in Ramu’s studio that Boucher made his first models as a boy. Ramu introduced the prodigy to the sculptor Paul Dubois, another native of Nogent-sur-Seine. The introduction led to a bursary to study in Paris under Dubois and Dumont. Dubois also encouraged Boucher to travel to Italy where he discovered the antique sculptures which were to have a lasting influence on his work.

RELATED LITERATURE

J. Piette, Alfred Boucher 1850-1934 "sculpteur – humaniste", ex. cat. Musée Paul Dubois – Alfred Boucher, Nogent-sur-Seine, 2000; J. Piette, Alfred Boucher 1850-1934: L'oeuvre sculpté, catalogue raisonné, Paris, 2014