Brother and Sister
Artist
Julien Dillens
(Antwerp, Belgium, 1849 - 1904)
Date1898
Mediumbronze
ClassificationsSculptures
DimensionsOverall: Height: 46.5 cm, Width: 50 cm, Depth: 33 cm, Weight: 35 kg
AcquisitionPurchased in 1934.
CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0
LocationOn Display - Gallery 18
Object numberABDAG004605
About MeThis sculpture typifies all the features of a new artistic movement that began towards the end of the 19th century and is today known as The New Sculpture. The principal artists involved with this new stylistic movement - Alfred Gilbert, Henry Armstead, Hamo Thornycroft, Edward Onslow Ford and Belgium's most important sculptor Julien Dillens - sought to achieve a new freedom of modelling and freshness of vision in their work, what was often referred to as 'imaginative realism'. They were greatly assisted in this task by the setting up of several foundries where their work could be cast using the 'lost wax' technique. Instead of carving from stone - as their predecessors had done - they were able to work in pliable clay, a bronze being cast from the clay original. The plasticity of clay and the ease of moulding which resulted, meant that the work of the new generation displayed a great freedom and vivacity. Instead of casting only once from the model, a limited edition would be produced, thus enabling more people to acquire their work and making it more accessible to the public at large. Sculpture ceased to be the property only of the very rich and began to be acquired by the middle classes.
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More About Me
The introduction of the ‘lost wax’ technique allowed Dillens and similar artists to produce limited edition of sculptures like this to be produced, making owning such art possible for more people.
Exhibitions
William Williams
c. 1870
Émile Lessore
Albrecht Dürer
n.d.
n.d.
n.d.
n.d.
n.d.
