Antoine Bourdelle

By Thirza Vallois

Retrace your steps and take rue Antoine Bourdelle on your left. At no. 16, the one-time home of sculptor Antoine Bourdelle narrowly escaped demolition when it was turned into a museum, Musée Bourdelle. In 1929 the sculptor's widow, generously backed by the art patron Ernest Cognacq, succeeded in buying up the premises so as to preserve her husband's heritage and offer it to France; but the state simply rejected her donation! So did the City of Paris, which, however, revised its opinion 20 years later... Yet Bourdelle was one of France's major sculptors, qualified by Rodin as `a scout of the future' (hence his contribution to the stunning avant-garde Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in the 8th arrondissement). Indeed, unlike academic sculptors and their moralising grandiloquence and superfluous ornamentation (which Rodin had already dusted off and replaced with sensual energy) Bourdelle opted for a rigorous structure and a powerful rhythm, in keeping with his peasant origins. The artist's goal, he felt, was to capture the whole and recreate it - which set him miles ahead of the dogmatic approach of most of his contemporaries. No wonder his war memorial, which, rather than flatter heroic patriotism, expressed the terror and despair of the fighters, displeased the general public. The great philosopher Bergson admired his approach and his artistry: `What strikes me as soon as I look at one of your works is that each part seems to contain the whole. Isn't that the mark of perfection?'

Antoine Bourdelle was also one of the prominent teachers at the celebrated Académie de la Grande Chaumière and left a deep impact on Montparnasse's artists, who, though freshly arrived from Eastern Europe, were labelled `l'Ecole de Paris', for lack of a better name. Some of them preferred to come and work here, in his studio, on what was then known as Impasse du Maine, notably Léon Indenbaum who described Bourdelle as `a great master', `a marvellous teacher'. Indenbaum was never so encouraged as when, one day, having examined his work, Le Petit Pâtre, the master turned to the class and said: `Monsieur Indenbaum évolue' (`Monsieur Indenbaum is developing'). A happy atmosphere reigned in the studio, where the Russian students would sing songs of their homeland. Twice a week Bourdelle would come to check their progress and for a long while listen to the nostalgic melodies behind the door before entering.

Bourdelle settled down on these premises in 1884 upon his arrival in Paris when he was 23, and remained here for the rest of his life, until 1929. At first he worked and lived in the same studio, but gradually he acquired the neighbouring studios, where he installed his family whom he had brought from the countryside; this accounts for the heterogeneous character and miscellaneous layout of the museum. His apartment and his studio have been left as they were and are sheer delight, but the extension added on in 1961 to mark the first centenary of his birth - a gigantic hall where some of his monumental sculptures are on display - is not an architectural success. Another extension was added behind the old studios by Christian Portzampare (the talented architect of the Cité de la Musique at la Villette). Here are exhibited various studies, among them for the above-mentioned 1870 war memorial entitled Montauban. Other sculptures are scatter about in the attractive setting of the gardens, and it is mainly in the intimate and serenely charming back garden that you should seek them out.

When Bourdelle moved to Impasse du Maine in 1884, it was just a little alley with a couple of studios submerged in lush gardens. Beyond were cornfields and vineyards. After all only 24 years earlier the toll gate of Maine was still standing here, marking the boundary of Paris, a neighbourhood of pleasant guinguettes where Parisians came to relax on Sundays over a pint of cheap wine. Today Bourdelle's exquisitely outdated oasis is situated just next to the entrance to the tunnel of Avenue du Maine with its endless flow of zooming, whizzing traffic, an isolated survivor among the surreal concrete chaos of contemporary Montparnasse.

Thirza Vallois brings Paris to life in a way that enthralls her readers and provides them with a detailed knowledge of the city which exceeds that of most Parisians, while her fast moving style disguises a depth of historical fact that is normally only found in academic tomes. Writer William Boyd wrote in The Spectator: "I think we can safely toss all other Paris guidebooks aside....There can be no higher praise than when I say they come close to the world's greatest guidebook, J. Link's "Venice for Pleasure" and they should soon achieve similar legendary status." The French Ambassador to the UK wrote: "I am convinced that this guide will constitute from now on, for the British lovers of Paris, a reference book which will have the success it deserves." Around and About Paris may be ordered online here.

A long time resident of Paris, she currently lives just three hours outside of Paris in London, and may be contacted via thirzavallois@iliadbooks.demon.co.uk.

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