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Bernhard Hoetger "Le Vent" Bronze Figural Vide-Poche
$17,500
This German Art Nouveau patinated bronze figural vide-poche dish, by Bernhard Hoetger, features a wind-blown nude with floral vines climbing her leg. The nude is far from the traditional representation of the exposed female form, it instead features a figure braced against an invisible wind, her voluminous locks blown dramatically outward, enveloping her. Despite her physically tense pose and the beautiful chaos of her hair, the figures expression suggestions she is in perfect, peaceful ecstasy. At her feet is a small dish that serves as the vide-poche.
- Product Details
- Curator's Notes
Item #: YS-20974
Artist: Bernhard Hoetger
Country: Germany
Circa: 1900
Dimensions: 12" high x 7.5" wide x 9" deep
Materials: Patinated Bronze
Signed: B. Hoetger Paris 09 - LB 3
Literature: Goldring Jessica Benjamin Macklowe Kathleen Moore Lary Matlick Antonio Virardi and Macklowe Gallery. 2011. Dynamic Beauty : Sculpture of Art Nouveau Paris. New York N.Y: Macklowe Gallery. p. 29
Bernhard Hoetger's haggard, stoic-yet-beautiful nude harkes back to Italian High Renaissance images of Mary Magdalene. Described as the "Penitent Magdalene," this patternized aesthetic treatment of the Magdalene focused on representing her in the time of her life after the death of Christ, when she became a hermit living in the wilderness. The iconic treatment of the saint became hugely popular during the Renaissance and is often called upon by great artists.