Jun 04, 2020 - Sale 2535

Sale 2535 - Lot 8

Price Realized: $ 4,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
RICHMOND BARTHÉ (1901 - 1989)
Untitled (Bust of a Young Man).

Painted plaster, mounted on a wooden base and business card stand, circa 1930. Approximately 95x63x44 mm; 3 3/4x2 1/2x1 3/4inches.

Provenance: acquired directly from the artist, Louis Hecht, New York; thence by descent, Philip H. Rubin, New York; private collection, New York (2013).

This small head is an early and very scarce example of the sensitive and intimate portraits made by Richmond Barthé in plaster. Despite their size, these heads have a naturalism and immediacy that demonstrate Barthé's skill in portraiture. His career was launched in Chicago with the critical and popular acclaim for his 1927 bust The Jubilee Singer which stood only 4 1/2 inches high - it was featured on the cover of Opportunity magazine in 1928.