Lot 115

Jan Štursa (1880 - 1925) BATH

The sculpture, created under the obvious influence and impression of contemporary French sculpture, especially Malliol and Bourdelle, is one of the key works of Šturso's artistic development at the threshold between Art Nouveau and monumental neoclassicism. A woman seated on a draped block, her head turned to the right, both hands holding a stream of hair that she brushes: the group represents the characteristic pose of this most important pupil and follower of Myslbek, who, alongside his monumental tasks, was intensely concerned with vital studies of robust female nudes. Here, Štursa seems to have started from the natural shape of a large pebble, into which he inscribed a body, seen in relief from all sides, whose shapes flow into each other without great contrasts. The sensual enchantment he achieved in the sculpture with the deliberately chosen smooth white marble has its roots in the philosophy of the "reality of art", which juxtaposed lyricism with a rigorous understanding of reality through the prism of academic sculpture. Published: Mašín, Jiří and Honty, Tibor: Jan Štursa 1880 - 1925, 1981, p. 20.