Updated 08 April 2025
On Display Permanent collection
The Dying Centaur
| Date | 1911-14 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | bronze |
| Size（cm） | 72 x 52 x 22 |
| Inscriptions | Signed (in initial) with monogram and titled right side of base: Le centaure / mourant / A B / AB; Inscribed on lyre : A TOUS LES MIENS / A MA CHÈRE FEMME / CLEOPATRA SEVASTOS / A MES CHERS PETITS / PIERRE ET PODN / JE DEDIE / LE CENTAURE MOURANT / EMILE-ANTOINE / BOURDELLE / 6 MARS 1914 / PARIS.; Foundry mark back right side of base: Alexis Rudier/ .Fondeur./.Paris |
| Credit Line | Matsukata Collection |
| Standard ref. | M1218 |
| Category | Sculptures |
| Collection Number | S.1959-0056 |
Centaurs are mythical half-man, half-horse beasts. Here the wounded and almost collapsed form of a centaur is captured in that tense instant when he is freed from pain and at the same time, attached to life. A rough surface pitted with countless hollows reminds the viewer of the stone walls of ancient cathedrals, a concept not unrelated to Bourdelle's revival of sculptural arts that rival architecture. Bourdelle researched the monumental art forms for sculpture found in Gothic cathedrals. "To all of my family, my cherished wife Cleopatra Sevestos and my beloved children Pierre and Rhodia, I dedicate the dying centaur, Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, 6th March 1914, Paris" is inscribed on the back of the harp. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 143)
Provenance
Ordered from artist by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe through Léonce Bénédite, ca. May 1921 (Fr. 15,000) [see letter from Bénédite to Emille Bourdelle, dated 14 May 1921, in Archives of Musée Bourdelle, Paris; copy in NMWA curatorial files]; sequestered by French government, 1944; vested in French government under San Francisco Peace Treaty, 1952; transferred from French to Japanese government, 23 January 1959; entered into NMWA, April 1959.
Exhibition History
- 1968
- Bourdelle, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 7 July 1968 - 25 August 1968, Kyoto National Museum, 8 September – 27 October 1968, cat. no. 26
- 1996
- The Crossing Visions: European and Modern Japanese Art from the Collections of The National Museum of Western Art & The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 20 July 1996 - 8 September 1996, cat. no. 110
- 2015
- Japan's Love for Impressionism: From Monet to Renoir, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, 8 October 2015 - 21 February 2016, cat. no. 100, col. repr.
- 2016
- The Old Matsukata Collection: Reenvisioning the Dream, Kobe City Museum, 17 September 2016 - 27 November 2016, cat. no. 62, col. repr.
- 2019
- The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey: Upon the 60th Anniversary of the NMWA, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 11 June 2019 - 23 September 2019, cat. no. 87, col. repr.
Bibliography
- 1990
- The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. S-4.
- 2006
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 143, repr.
- 2009
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 143, repr.
- 2015
- Japan's Love for Impressionism: From Monet to Renoir (exh. cat.). Marks-Hanssen, Beate, ed. Bonn, Bundeskunsthalle, 2015, pp. 169, 246, cat. no. 100, col. repr.
- 2016
- The Old Matsukata Collection: Reenvisioning the Dream (exh. cat.). Kobe City Museum, ed. [Kobe], Executive Committee of the Old Matsukata Collection, 2016, pp. 105, 264, cat. no. 62, col. repr.
- 2019
- The Matsukata Collection: Complete Catalogue of the European Art. Kawaguchi, Masako; Jingaoka, Megumi, eds. vol. 2: Sculpture, Drawings, Prints and Decorative Arts and Other Works, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2019, cat. no. 1218, col. repr.
- 2019
- The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey (exh. cat.). Jingaoka, Megumi, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of the Western Art, Tokyo; Yomiuri Shimbun; NHK; NHK Promotions, 2019, pp. 170, 173, 363, cat. no. 87, col. repr.