Sculpture - Busted Young Girl In Bronze, By Alphonse Van Beurden (1854 -1938)

A fine bronze bust of a  young lady signed "Alph.Van Beurden, Fonderie Batardy

Alphonse Van Beurden (1854 -1938)

Alphonse Van Beurden was a student at the Antwerp Academy, where he was a student of Joseph Geefs and Edouard Dujardin ( 1868-1881). He was awarded 1st prize for sculpture in 1874 and 1877, but later taught drawing at the same academy. He also worked with Jef Lambeaux. In 1884, he became a member of “Als ik kan”. “If I can”), an association of artists active from 1883 to 1952; he sculpted busts of the members. From 1885, he taught at the Antwerp Academy. successful, he won several medals in international salons. The absolute central theme of his art lies in the field of so-called bourgeois salon art In the perfect representation of naked young people, women and especially children in stockings. age, Alfons Van Beurden excels like no other. His handling of equipment, his technical abilities and his anatomical knowledge still arouse astonishment and respect today. Van Beurden clearly preferred charm to drama, and loved the mischief and unexpected reactions of his models which he was able to express through sculpture in terracotta, marble or bronze, always with a high degree of verisimilitude. Van Beurden's qualities were not only appreciated in his home country of Belgium, but he was rewarded with countless foreign prizes, as far as Australia. He likes to represent children with great tenderness. He created the two female figures on the balcony of the Diamond Exchange in Antwerp, the allegorical “Egyptian Art” scene on the north facade of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, as well as the superb 2m80 caryatids on the staircase of the museum . Other works in museums in Brussels, Antwerp and Antwerp Zoo. After 1890, he devoted himself to creating small, elegant statues. To be distinguished from his son Alphonse Van Beurden Jr or II who was above all a painter (1878-1962).