Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is undergoing renovations and will be closed for a while. We are delighted to have been able to borrow two beautiful classical park sculptures from their collection, from their Depot . On the left is Assia (1937), a sculpture by Charles Despiau , a student and later friend of Rodin. On the right is Venus Victrix (1914) by Auguste Renoir . It depicts Venus holding a golden apple, which she won by being judged the most beautiful of three goddesses by Paris.
Venus Victrix (1916) | Auguste Renoir
Bronze
Weight: 189.6 kg, Height: 186 cm
Collection Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (donated by A. Hartog in 1935)
Venus Victrix (1916), goddess of love, is depicted here in a victorious pose. Venus, Minerva, and Juno participated in a beauty contest prior to this snapshot. The apple in Venus’s hand symbolizes her victory. Renoir based this work on the Greco-Roman style. The bronze statue celebrates the beauty of the female body.
From 1861 onward, Pierre Auguste Renoir took lessons at the Gleyre studio, where he met Monet, Sisley, and Bazille. In the 1860s, Renoir painted in the forests of Fontainebleau. During this period, Renoir also painted his first life-size figure paintings, inspired by the work of Courbet. From the mid-1870s, Renoir painted scenes from modern life, and in the 1890s, he developed a softer painting style. His scenes with young women and children were very popular. In addition to being a painter, Renoir was also a sculptor.
Assia (1937) | Charles Despiau
Bronze
Weight: 200 kg, height: 180 cm
Collection Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (purchased in 1938)
According to Despiau, Assia (born 1937) is the epitome of the ideal woman. Humanity’s place in nature and the appreciation of the human body were important themes in art in the 1930s.
Charles Despiau began his career in 1891 at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris. He devoted himself entirely to sculpture. During World War I, Despiau was forced to leave his work and enlisted in the army. After the war, Despiau joined the “Bande à Schnegg,” a group of sculptors founded by the brothers Lucien and Gaston Schnegg.