?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 7,000
RICHMOND BARTHÉ (1901 - 1989) Julius.
Painted plaster on a wooden base, circa 1940. 190x114x102 mm; 7 1/2x4 1/2x4 inches (not including base). Incised with the artist's signature, backside of head. A later cast, made in Jamaica in the 1960s.
Provenance: acquired directly from the artist in Jamaica, private collection; thence by descent, private collection.
This bust was originally commissioned by the photographer Carl Van Vechten, Richmond Barthé's friend. The young boy Julius was Van Vechten's housekeeper's nephew. In October of 1940, Van Vechten photographed the sculpture decorated with a feather headress - images are in the Carl Van Vechten Papers, in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. A bronze cast of Julius is in the collection of the Pennyslyvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia.
