Henri Gaudier-Brzeska

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Gaudier-Brzeska, Henri ( Henri Gaudier) (1891–1915). French sculptor and draughtsman, active in England for most of his very short career and usually considered part of the history of British rather than French art. He was born at St Jean-de-Braye, near Orleans, the son of a carpenter, and was destined for a career in commerce. In 1910 he took up sculpture in Paris without formal training, and in the same year he met Sophie Brzeska, a Polish woman 20 years his senior, with whom he lived from that time, both of them adopting the hyphenated name. In 1911 they moved to London, which Gaudier had visited briefly in 1906 and 1908, and lived for a while in extreme poverty. He became a friend of Wyndham Lewis, Ezra Pound, and other leading literary and artistic figures, and his work was shown in avant-garde exhibitions, such as the Vorticist exhibition of 1915. In 1914 he enlisted in the French army and he was killed in action the following year, aged 23.

Gaudier developed with astonishing rapidity from a modelling style based on Rodin to a highly personal manner of carving in which shapes are radically simplified in a way recalling the work of Brancusi (Red Stone Dancer, Tate Gallery, London, c. 1913). In Britain, only Epstein was producing sculpture as stylistically advanced at this time. Gaudier's work was appreciated by only a small circle during his lifetime, but since his death he has become recognized as one of the outstanding sculptors of his generation and has acquired something of a legendary status as an unfulfilled genius. Sophie Breszka's devotion to his memory bore fruit in a memorial exhibition of his work at the Leicester Galleries, London, in 1918, and biographies of him were written by H. S. Ede (1930) and Horace Brodzky (1933). Ede's biography was originally entitled A Life of Gaudier-Breszka, but when it was reprinted in 1931 it was retitled Savage Messiah in allusion to the demonic intensity and energy of his life; this was also the title of Ken Russell's film on the artist (1972). See also DIRECT CARVING.

Gaudier-Brzeska, Henri ( Henri Gaudier) (b Saint-Jean-de-Braye, nr. Orléans, 4 Oct. 1891; d Neuville-Saint-Vaast, 5 June 1915). French sculptor and draughtsman, active in England for most of his short career and usually considered part of the history of British rather than French art. In 1910 he took up sculpture in Paris without formal training, and in the same year he met Sophie Brzeska, a Polish woman twenty years his senior, with whom he lived from that time, both of them adopting the hyphenated name. In 1911 they moved to London, which Gaudier had visited briefly in 1906 and 1908, and lived for a while in extreme poverty. He became a friend of Wyndham Lewis and other leading literary and artistic figures, and his work was shown in avant-garde exhibitions, such as the Vorticist exhibition of 1915. In 1914 he enlisted in the French army and was killed in action the following year, aged 23.

Gaudier developed with astonishing rapidity from a modelling style based on Rodin towards a highly personal manner of carving in which shapes are radically simplified in a manner recalling Brancusi (Red Stone Dancer, c.1913, Tate, London). In England, only Epstein was producing sculpture as stylistically advanced as Gaudier at this time. In his lifetime his work was appreciated by only a small circle, but since his death he has become widely recognized as one of the outstanding sculptors of his generation and has acquired something of a legendary status as an unfulfilled genius. In addition to his sculptures he left behind some splendid animal drawings.

Gaudier-Brzeska, Henri ( Henri Gaudier) (1891–1915). French sculptor and draughtsman, active in England for most of his short career and usually considered part of the history of British rather than French art. In 1910 he took up sculpture in Paris without formal training, and in the same year he met Sophie Brzeska, a Polish woman twenty years his senior, with whom he lived from that time, both of them adopting the hyphenated name. In 1911 they moved to London, which Gaudier had visited briefly in 1906 and 1908, and lived for a while in extreme poverty. He became a friend of Wyndham Lewis and other leading literary and artistic figures, and his work was shown in avant-garde exhibitions, such as the Vorticist exhibition of 1915. In 1914 he enlisted in the French army and was killed in action the following year, aged 23. Gaudier developed with astonishing rapidity from a modelling style based on Rodin towards a highly personal manner of carving in which shapes are radically simplified in a manner recalling Brancusi (Red Stone Dancer, c.1913, Tate, London). In England, only Epstein was producing sculpture as stylistically advanced as Gaudier-Brzeska at this time. In his lifetime his work was appreciated by only a small circle, but since his death he has become widely recognized as one of the outstanding sculptors of his generation and has acquired something of a legendary status as an unfulfilled genius. In addition to his sculptures he left behind some splendid animal drawings.

Henri Gaudier-Brzeska , 1891-1915, French sculptor. He was the chief exponent of vorticism in sculpture. Mainly self-taught in England and Germany, Gaudier showed exceptional precocity in his draftsmanship, animal figures, and abstract works such as The Dancer. Returning to France in 1910, he added the name of his Polish companion Sophie Brzeska to his own. Ezra Pound became his patron some time before Gaudier-Brzeska was killed in World War I at the age of 24. Several of his works are in the South Kensington Museum, London.

Bibliography: See his drawings and sculpture, introd. by M. Levey (1965); biography by H. S. Ede (1930); study by E. Pound (1916, repr. 1970).

Gaudier-Brzeska, Henri (1891–1915) French sculptor, who lived in England from 1911. A friend of Ezra Pound, he was part of the vorticism movement. His works include Red Stone Dancer (1913) and Bird swallowing Fish (1914).