Beschreibung:

Charles Henri Joseph Cordier (French 1827 ~ 1905) 'Venus Africaine' and 'Saïd Abdullah of the Mayac, Kingdom of the Darfur (Sudan).' Signed in the maquette Cordier and Simonet Fils & Cie Vendeur á Paris to the reverse Patinated bronze 42cm and 41cm high On later faux marble plinths, 55cm and 56cm high overall Provenance: Mallett, London In 1847, Cordier met with Seïd Enkess, a former black slave who had become a model, and the meeting was to determine the course of the sculptor's career His first success was a bust in plaster of a Sudanese man Saïd Abdullah of the Mayac, Kingdom of the Darfur (Sudan). This was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1848, (the same year that slavery was abolished in all French colonies) and is now housed at The Walters Art Museum. Success continued for Cordier when in 1851, Queen Victoria bought a bronze of the same model at the Great Exhibition of London From 1851 to 1866, he served as the official sculptor of Paris's National History Museum, creating a series of spectacularly lifelike busts for their new ethnographic gallery (now housed in the Musee de l'Homme, Paris) Cordier did not only use 'exotic' models: in the course of his ethnographic work he depicted European types from different parts of France and beyond. His artistic credo was however in conscious opposition to the largely Eurocentric viewpoint prevailing in his day. Addressing the French Society of Anthropology in 1862, Cordier stated: "Beauty does not belong to a single, privileged race, I have promoted throughout the world of art the idea that beauty is everywhere. Every race has its own beauty, which differs from that of others. The most beautiful black person is not the one who looks most like us" See also Dreweatts, Fine Furniture and Works of Art, 19th June 2013 for a Cordier bust of 'Venus Africaine' Condition report disclaimer