Clock: Hymn to Life
Artist:
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
(French, 1841 - 1919)
Artist:
Richard Guino
(Spanish, 1890 - 1973)
Culture: French
Date: design, 1914-1917; cast, 1950s
Place made:France
General region:Europe
Medium: Bronze with brown patina
Dimensions:
28 1/4 × 21 × 9 in. (71.8 × 53.3 × 22.9 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, bequest of Gilbert M. Denman, Jr.
Object number: 2005.1.158
Signed: Signed, dated, and numbered: Renoir 1914 No.2
Markings: Stamped with foundry mark on back: BISCEGLIA CIRE PERDU PARIS; stamped @ALFRED BARBER PARIS
Provenance: sold, M. Knoedler & Co., New York, to Gilbert M. Denman, Jr. (1921-2004), San Antonio, 1963; Gilbert M. Denman, Jr., by bequest to the San Antonio Museum of Art, 2005
Exhibition History: 40 Years, 40 Stories: Treasures and New Discoveries from SAMA’s Collection, San Antonio Museum of Art, Oct.16, 2021-Jan. 2, 2022
Label Text
Group label with 2005.1.159 & 160:
In the last decade of his life, the renowned Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir collaborated with several young sculptors, including Richard Guino and Louis Morel, to produce sculptures based on his drawings. The clock is an allegory celebrating the continuity of life, as a nude man and woman render homage to a torch-bearing child, a symbol of future generations. The dancer and flute player were inspired by ecstatic figures Renoir had admired in ancient Roman paintings from Pompeii. Guino and Morel created plaster models for these works during Renoir’s lifetime, and they were first cast in bronze in the 1950s. (J. Powers, 2021)
In the last decade of his life, the renowned Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir collaborated with several young sculptors, including Richard Guino and Louis Morel, to produce sculptures based on his drawings. The clock is an allegory celebrating the continuity of life, as a nude man and woman render homage to a torch-bearing child, a symbol of future generations. The dancer and flute player were inspired by ecstatic figures Renoir had admired in ancient Roman paintings from Pompeii. Guino and Morel created plaster models for these works during Renoir’s lifetime, and they were first cast in bronze in the 1950s. (J. Powers, 2021)
Not on view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
