Dimensions: object: 571 x 670 x 362 mm, 36 kg
Copyright: © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2014 | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: Henri Laurens’ bronze sculpture, "Bather (Fragment)," is a rather striking piece. The smooth curves give it a very sensual feel, but the cropped composition also makes it feel unfinished. What do you see in this fragment? Curator: It’s like Laurens is inviting us to complete her, isn’t it? I feel her power, a woman emerging, perhaps from water, perhaps from myth. The bronze sings of timelessness, a primal form. She reminds me of those earthy goddesses of old, potent and free. Do you get that sense of ancient strength from her? Editor: Absolutely. There is something very elemental about it. Curator: It’s a dance between the rough and the refined, a conversation across centuries. It’s both old and new at the same time! Editor: It is great to see how many stories this piece can tell.
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Laurens’s early sculpture was Cubist in spirit, with hard edges and angles. Gradually his work acquired a softer, more rounded nature until by the 1930s his figures were large and luxuriant in form. This sculpture is the upper part of Reclining Woman, a full length reclining female nude of 1931. The Reclining Woman was sent to the bronze foundry for a cast to be made from the original clay and the cast was damaged. Laurens salvaged the upper half and transformed it into this self-sufficient fragment. Gallery label, November 2011
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