Étienne Hachenburger

ÉTIENNE HACHENBURGER (19th-20th century).
"Bather", c. 1930.
Carrara marble.
Signed.
Measurements: 62 x 36 x 35 cm.

The present marble sculpture corresponds to the version of the work "Bather", initially conceived in plaster and presented by Étienne Hachenburger at the 1906 Salon de la Société des Artistes Français, where it received a favorable critical reception. Following this success, the artist produced the marble version, exhibited at the 1908 Salon, thus consolidating his recognition within the Parisian academic circuit.

The theme of the bather, a recurring one in academic sculpture and painting, allows the artist to explore both idealized beauty and the observation of nature, in dialogue with the classical tradition and the modern sensibility of his time. The work is thus inscribed in a context in which the official Salons continued to be key spaces of artistic legitimization, where Hachenburger participated actively since 1907, obtaining an honorary mention in 1910.

Trained at the Académie Julian under the tutelage of Raoul Verlet and Jacques Perrin, Hachenburger developed a language fully inscribed in the French academic tradition of the late nineteenth century, where the study of the human body and anatomical fidelity occupy a central place. In this work, the nude female figure is presented in an intimate attitude, captured in a moment of transition that suggests naturalness. The composition, of soft and balanced lines, shows a delicate treatment of the surfaces, with a polishing that accentuates the purity of the marble and highlights the tactile quality of the skin, values inherited from neoclassical sculpture.