The year of bronze for Au But and the Camille Claudel Museum
Help the Camille Claudel Museum melt a monumental sculpture of Camille Claudel's first teacher, Alfred Boucher."
Musée Camille ClaudelNogent-sur-Seine
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The year of bronze for Au But and the Camille Claudel Museum
The Camille Claudel Museum, located in France, near Paris, needs your help to create a monumental bronze of an exceptional artwork: Au But. This spectacular sculpture by Alfred Boucher captures the moment when three runners, in full effort, cross the finish line. The museum also has a goal to reach: to raise the necessary funds to cast a very large bronze (two meters high by three meters long!). If the museum reaches its goal with your help, this sculpture will join a public garden in Nogent-sur-Seine, the city where Alfred Boucher grew up and where he met with the young Camille Claudel. We count on you to go straight to our goal! "Au But" in the Luxembourg Garden, postcard © Camille Claudel Museum Au But, an exceptional artwork Sport in the spotlight Alfred Boucher conceived this sculpture in 1886. Its subject, the race, was very innovative for the time. It echoes the birth of athletics in France, with the first competition organized the same year. It also foreshadows the enthusiasm for sports that peaked a decade later with the organization of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, which resonates particularly with the current year being an Olympic year in France. A work of great modernity Au But is undoubtedly Alfred Boucher's most modern sculpture. It impresses with its monumental size and the effect of movement. The sculptor manages to accentuate the dynamism of his figures : the very inclined backs, the strained muscles, the hands forward, the faces tensed by effort, give them great expressiveness, while the support on one foot creates a striking effect of imbalance. The destruction of the bronze The plaster of this work was very successful when presented at the Salon des artistes français in 1886. It was purchased by the French State, which then commissioned a monumental bronze copy. This was installed in 1887 in the Luxembourg Garden in Paris. During the Second World War, this bronze was seized and melted as part of the mobilization of non-ferrous metals imposed by Nazi Germany for its weapons production. The Camille Claudel Museum's project: creating a new bronze The Camille Claudel Museum holds a major collection of sculptures from the late 19th century, including a reference collection of Alfred Boucher's artworks. In 2024, it presents the exhibition "Alfred Boucher, from the studio to the museum" (March 30 - July 28), in which the original plaster of Au But is exceptionally shown. This very fragile and complex to move plaster has been taken out of the reserves of the museums of Troyes to be displayed at the heart of the exhibition. In connection with the collections, the exhibition, and the Olympic Games, the city of Nogent-sur-Seine and its museum wish to commission a new bronze copy of the masterpiece Au But. This new artwork will be installed in a public garden of the municipality, in front of the former museum created by Alfred Boucher in 1902. The original plaster model has been digitized to create a mold that will allow casting a bronze similar to the copy from the Luxembourg Garden, now disappeared. The funds raised will finance the casting in a specialized foundry, as well as the construction of the base, transport, and installation of the bronze. Also follow the project on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/YouTube Website: museecamilleclaudel.fr
Allocation of funds
Allocation of funds Whether you are a private individual or a company, large or small, you can help to recreate the work in the material intended by Alfred Boucher and in its original dimensions. You will be helping the Camille Claudel Museum to revive the golden age of French sculpture and the tradition of monumental art in the public space. Your donation will enable everyone to rediscover this masterpiece in a public garden: Nogentais and visitors alike, who will find it an exceptional addition to their visit to the museum. In addition to the funding provided by the town of Nogent-sur-Seine, the Camille Claudel Museum is appealing for donations to make this project possible. The project is costly because of the difficulty of casting an object of such monumental dimensions and complex volumes. The funds raised will be used to finance the casting in a specialist foundry, as well as the construction of the base and the transport and installation of the bronze. The museum won't be able to complete this project without your help! We are calling on your generosity to help us raise €15,000 to create this sculpture. Help us reach our goal! I'm a company, how can I support the project? You can contact the Camille Claudel Museum directly at mecenat@museecamilleclaudel.fr or by phone on 03.25.25.51.72. You will receive a personalised reply, including details of the rewards available to you. 100% of the target (15,000 euros) must be reached for the museum to receive your contributions. If the target is not reached, you will be reimbursed. Donations start at €10 and can go up to €10,000 or more for companies. Individuals or professionals, support us by donating the amount of your choice! Tax receipts will be sent to you electronically so that you can benefit from a tax reduction of 66% of the amount donated (60% for companies). The rewards The Camille Claudel Museum will invite all donors to the inauguration of the bronze and their names will be published on our website. It has also devised a range of rewards linked to the museum, from goodies bearing the Au But logo to a private visit with the museum's curator! Good to know: tax legislation requires that the value of the consideration for individuals does not exceed €73 and that the amount does not exceed 25% of the donation. TO LEARN MORE Who was Alfred Boucher? Alfred Boucher (1850 - 1934) A great sculptor of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Alfred Boucher is now largely unknown. His role in the training of Camille Claudel and in the creation of La Ruche in Paris is remembered, but his abundant production is largely forgotten. Born in the village of Bouy-sur-Orvin (Aube, France) into a modest family, Alfred Boucher arrived in Nogent-sur-Seine in 1859. At only 9 years old, he discovered sculpture there and showed promise encouraged by the neoclassical sculptor Marius Ramus. Between 1871 and 1879, he received academic training at the École nationale des Beaux-arts in Paris, marked by references to antiquity and the study of anatomy, which deeply influenced his work. He competed several times for the prestigious Prix de Rome, winning second prize with Jason carrying off the Golden Fleece in 1876. That same year, he met Camille Claudel in Nogent-sur-Seine. He became her first teacher before introducing her to Auguste Rodin. Alfred Boucher spent several years in Italy, then settled and pursued his career between two cities: Paris and Aix-les-Bains. He owed his success, both critical and commercial, to his sensual female nudes. For example, Volubilis (1896), a seated female figure full of grace, which he produced multiple times. Swamped with commissions, Alfred Boucher created numerous portraits and commemorative monuments populated with allegorical figures. Some of his works took a more modern path, such as the expressive group of runners Au But. In his later works, mainly war memorials from World War I, he experimented with the innovative technique of reinforced concrete. At the turn of the 20th century, recognized as one of the great sculptors of his time, Alfred Boucher devoted himself to philanthropic activities. In 1902, he and his wife made a significant donation to Nogent-sur-Seine and established the city's first museum. That same year, Alfred Boucher founded La Ruche. This artists' village southwest of Paris saw the studios of great names in modern art, such as Fernand Léger, Marc Chagall, Amedeo Modigliani, and Chaïm Soutine, succeed one another. Who are we? The Camille Claudel Museum Located in Nogent-sur-Seine, between Paris and Troyes, the Camille Claudel Museum houses the largest collection of Camille Claudel's artworks in the world. Around forty artworks by the famous sculptor allow visitors to discover all stages of her artistic career. The museum also exhibits over 150 works by other major artists of her time, illustrating one of the most prolific periods of French sculpture. It thus preserves the largest public collection of Alfred Boucher's artworks. Large-scale exhibitions, new acquisitions, a rich program of events...: since its opening in 2017, the Camille Claudel Museum has been conducting ambitious projects that enrich, showcase, and make its collections accessible. The museum's history The Camille Claudel Museum succeeded an older museum: the Dubois-Boucher Museum. Founded in 1902 thanks to sculptor Alfred Boucher's donation to the city of his beginnings, Nogent-sur-Seine, the collection contained a significant number of sculptures from the start, while not being limited to sculpture alone. The Boucher donation also included part of his personal collection of paintings and graphic arts, supplemented by donations from contemporary painters. During World War II, the Dubois-Boucher Museum was looted, and many works from the founding collection disappeared. After the war, the museum remained closed for a long time. It reopened its doors in 1974, but as a venue for presenting archaeological excavations carried out in the Nogent area. It wasn't until the 1980s that the sculpture collection was once again exhibited, studied, and enriched. Starting in 2008, the city of Nogent-sur-Seine acquired a significant Camille Claudel collection and purchased the former Claudel family home, leading to the emergence of a new museum project. Inaugurated in March 2017, it was named after Camille Claudel. It is now exclusively dedicated to sculpture during Camille Claudel's time, and its exhibition unfolds in two parts that reflect her dual identity. The first presents an overview of French sculpture from the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the second presents Camille Claudel's career through the world's richest collection of her works.