IMAGE DETAILS

Thomas Deprez Fine Arts

George Minne (Ghent 1866-1941 Sint-Martens-Latem)
Baigneuse I, 1899
Boxwood (composite)
H 40 cm
Signed on the base: ‘G. MINNE’
Provenance: private collection by family descent, Belgium
Exhibitions: La Libre Esthétique, Brussels, 1902, cat. 139, as : ‘Figure de femme. boxwood.'

Related Literature: Arthur Roesler, George Minne, in : Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, 1910, 14th year, IV, 2, ill. article frontispiece, p. 240 (cf. Waerndorfer marble); Léo Van Puyvelde, George Minne, Bruxelles : Editions des 'Cahiers de Belgique', 1930, cat. n° 31, p. 78, ill. pl. 31 (bronze); Robert Hoozee et al., George Minne en de kunst rond 1900, Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 1982, cf. cat. 95 & 96 (bronze and alabaster)
Related Exhibitions: Berliner Secession V, Berlin, 1902, cat. 319, as : ‘Badende’ (plaster); Wiener Secession XIV, Vienna, 1902, as: ‘Badendes Mädchen’ (plaster); Tento. Jozef Israëls & George Minne, Rotterdam, 1903, as: ‘Badende vrouw’ (marble); Berliner Secession XI, Berlin, 1906, cat. 332, as: ‘Junge Frau’ (plaster); Mücsarnok, Teli, Nemzetkozi Kiallitas, Budapest, 1908-09, cat. 285 (marble); Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte, Venice, 1909, cat. 3, as : ‘Bagnante’ (marble); Sonderbund westdeutscher K., Dusseldorf, 1910, cat. 237, as : ‘Die Badende’ (marble); Leipziger Jahresaustellung, Leipzig, 1912, cat. 895c, as: ’Baigneuse’ (bronze); Sonderbund internationale Kunstaustellung Köln, 1912, cat. 611, as: ‘Badende’ (marble).

RELATED WORKS
It has been said that George Minne, with the present sculpture, directly influenced Gustav KLIMT (1862-1918) for the painting 'Wasserschlangen I' (1904/07), cf. Hoozee. It's appeal, however, has never faded, as can be seen in several variations on the pose which have been an integral part of the famous Belgian contemporary choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s so-called 'Attitudes'.

NOTE ON VERSIONS
Van Puyvelde mentions editions in marble, wood and bronze. In addition, several fine plaster casts with family provenances can be identified, amongst others at the MSK Gent and at the Museum Gevaert-Minne. Among the early collectors of bronze versions we find Hélène Kröller-Müller and Karl Ernst Osthaus, partly due to the fact that Minne’s ‘Baigneuse I’ has been a favourite for the inclusion in decorative settings designed by Henry VAN DE VELDE (1863-1959). Versions in marble are held at the Royal Museums of Art & History and at the Belvedere in Vienna. We have been unable to find records of any other versions of Minne’s ‘Baigneuse I’ in wood. Executed in a fine composite of boxwood, to be precise, it is likely a unique piece in the material and can therefore be identified as entry nr. 139 at La Libre Esthétique in 1902; where both a bronze version and a version in boxwood of Minne's 'Baigneuse' would have been exhibited under the title 'Figure de femme'. Interestingly, the 1902 exhibition of La Libre Esthétique in Brussels also marks the model's public debut, ranking the present version as one of the earliest in existance and one of the first two shown publicly.