Emil Fuchs

This impressive marble depicts a nude woman standing on a tree stump, gracefully twisting her curled hair onto the top of her head. The piece is an important example of the sculptor’s early work, demonstrating the sophistication of his skill even at the beginning of his career.

Born in Vienna in 1866, Emil Fuchs was an Austrian-American sculptor. His work ranged from bronze and marble sculpture, to medals and plaquettes, and eventually to oil portraiture.

Fuchs travelled extensively, initially training in Vienna and Berlin at the Akademie der bildenden Künste and Preußische Akademie der Künste respectively. The present nude was most likely created while Fuchs was still working in Berlin, just before he won the German Prix de Rome and relocated to Italy in 1891. The figure, created in 1890, therefore predates all of Fuchs’ major exhibitions, with his debut at the Royal academy in 1898 (Graves, op. cit., p. 179), and an honourable mention at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1907 (Bénézit, op. cit., p. 754).

During his time working in London, Fuchs began oil painting after having predominantly been a sculptor and a medallist. Mentored by John Singer Sargent, his portraits became fashionable amongst the British aristocracy and he was eventually commissioned to produce portraits for Queen Victoria and Edward VII (Royal Marines Museum, Southsea, inv. no. RM 1974/6). This development of his oil portraiture saw Fuchs increasingly travel to the United States to paint wealthy socialites. The growing anti-German sentiment during the First World War led Fuchs to permanently emigrate to the United States, becoming a US citizen in 1924.

RELATED LITERATURE

E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, vol. 6, Paris, 1999, p. 754; A. Graves, The Royal Academy of Arts; a complete dictionary of contributors and their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904, vol. 3, 1905, p. 179