Bather by Dalou
AIME-JULES DALOU
Paris 1838 – 1902
Aimé-Jules Dalou was one of the most important sculptors of the French Third Republic, he was close to the realist movement and an important part of his career was dedicated to Republican subjects. Another major aspect was closer to more ornamental pieces, which fully expressed his taste for the great baroque style. His friend and rival, Auguste Rodin remembered Dalou as « A great artist who created many sculptures of superb decorative quality which can be counted with the most beautiful work done in seventeenth-century French art. »
BATHER
Plaster / H: 35 cm
Dalou’s bathers evoke the biblical subject of Susanna, a seated figure of a naked woman raising her arms in a gesture of modesty, but Dalou chose to represent only a bather, a realistic subject from day-to-day life.