Art Deco Female Bronze Sculpture by Jan Anteunis

This work is listed in the catalogue shown here under the title “Heropstanding.” The catalogue example was made in gypsum with a verdigris finish, while this example is executed in bronze. The piece is signed in the base.

Jan Anteunis was born on March 29, 1896, in Ghent, Belgium. At the beginning of the First World War, when he was eighteen years old, he moved to Great Britain. In Liverpool, he attended the School of Art, where he began to focus seriously on sculpture. During the war, he worked for a period in a munitions factory until he was wounded in a bombing. After the war, he returned to Ghent and continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1918 to 1920, where his teachers included Felix Metdepenninghen and Geo Verbanck.

This is a powerful and important sculpture by a listed Belgian artist, with strong form, emotional depth, and excellent period presence.

From the  1920′s onwards, Anteunis increasingly came under the influence of his teacher Geo Verbanck and his sculptures began to show Art Deco stylization. In the 1940s and 50s the sculptures of Anteunis become more modern. His career took shape in 1926 with works such as ‘the head of Christ’,’ The Kiss’ and ‘Dream’. Anteunis’ most substantial Art Deco public statue (pictured below) is the  “Reclining Nude” located at De Haan, Belguim. It is interesting to note that It features the same model with distinctive head dress as the piece we are offering on our website.