Guillaume Dumont “Bathing Nude” Bronze Sculpture, French Art Deco, 1923

Guillaume Dumont “Bathing Nude” Bronze Sculpture, French Art Deco, 1923

This commanding French Art Deco sculpture of a bathing nude woman, cast in 1923 by Belgian artist Guillaume Dumont, reflects a powerful synthesis of sensual form and stoic poise. Sculpted at the height of the interwar Art Deco movement, this bronze figure presents a confident female form with upward gaze and athletic posture, emblematic of the era’s embrace of modernity, grace, and idealized beauty.

Born in 1889, Dumont was an accomplished sculptor whose work bridged public monumental commissions and expressive individual works like this. Notably, he collaborated with architect Léon Stynen on the 1914–1918 Herdenkingsmonument in Knokke, Belgium—a powerful WWI memorial inaugurated in 1922. Shortly after, Dumont gained international recognition when his work was included in the sculpture event at the 1928 Summer Olympics, marking his role among artists who brought the classical tradition into a modernist idiom.

The sculpture's elongated form and refined modeling suggest a strong connection to both the early Modernist aesthetic and the French school of the 1920s, where athleticism, serenity, and stylization intersect. The figure’s slicked-back bathing cap and upright stance further root the piece in the leisure-and-luxury themes of the period. Finished in a deep, warm brown patina, the bronze has acquired a natural surface richness over the last century. June 19