Kneeling Youth with Outstretched Feet | MSK Gent
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Kneeling Youth with Outstretched Feet, ca. 1898

  • patination, gypsum
  • 78 x 19.5 x 47.4 cm
  • Inv. 2011-GN

Public Domain

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Public Domain

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6234 70ebc6eac25966d99eb5a29fd68ee275
6816 bdb37159ebb78e71e19081f20268c6df

After a period of poverty during his stay in Ghent, Minne moved to Brussels in October 1895. As a sculptor, he underwent an important evolution in his Brussels period up until 1899 - the year that he left the city to settle in Sint-Martens-Latem. In the first years he created both expressive sculptures and more contemplative figures. Around 1897 a new, more classical style phase began. The type figures of kneeling, mourning or injured figures from his earlier work underwent a process of purification and abstraction. The images become more and more stylised and refined. For instance, the body of The Kneeling Youth, Minne’s best-known sculpture, of which five identical copies were erected around a water basin, is composed of a controlled rhythm of straight or curved lines and planes (inv. 1982-E). The modesty of the kneeling figure is underlined by a subtly modelled surface. The entire sculpture forms a graceful and expressive silhouette that lends itself perfectly to grouping it around a circular basin. There are two versions of The Fountain of Kneeling Youths. One shows the kneeler with an extended foot, as on the fountain that was shown in 1899 at La Libre Esthétique and in 1900 at the Wiener Secession. Only a few copies of that version are still known, and it is this version that the museum recently acquired. With the Fountain with Kneeling Youths, the museum owns since 1982 five examples of the youth in the better-known pose, with the feet folded around a pedestal that is slightly curved at the front to fit the edge of the fountain. With the sculpture group, Minne reached the conclusion of his many years of research, which can be followed in the various preparatory drawings and sketchbooks, in which he tried out certain poses and combinations, and in which he grouped elegant figures, both standing and kneeling, around a basin and set them up in imaginary architectural settings. With the acquisition of the first version of the Fountain with Kneeling Youths and study sheets (cf. 1982-I-02 & -06 / 1985-M-2-recto & -3-recto / 2007-recto), the museum now owns a series of works that illustrate the various lines of thought of Minne during the development process of The Fountain of Kneeling Youths.

Artist

George Minne RKD VIAF Wikidata
Ghent 1866 - Sint-Martens-Latem 1941
sculptorsAAT

Title Kneeling Youth with Outstretched Feet
Date ca. 1898
Period 19th century
Medium and support patination AAT
Collection sculpture AAT
Object type gypsum AAT
Inventory number 2011-GN
Acquisition credit purchase
Tanghe, Bernadette
Rhode-Saint-Genèse
2011
Current whereabouts Work on display
Permalink https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/2011-GN
IIIF Manifest https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/6234/manifest.json
https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/6816/manifest.json
Art & Architecture Thesaurus 300189808 figures (representations) AAT
300055865 symbolism (artistic concept) AAT
Keywords Iconclass 11Q41 contemplation Iconclass
21D water (one of the four elements) Iconclass
31A the (nude) human figure; 'Corpo humano' (Ripa) Iconclass
31A2321 leaning forward Iconclass
31A2323 leaning sideways Iconclass
31A233 kneeling figure Iconclass
31A71 male sex; man Iconclass
31B3 dream Iconclass
31D12 youth, young man, adolescent Iconclass
31D120 Youth, Adolescence, 'Iuventus'; 'Adolescenza', 'Gioventu' (Ripa) Iconclass
31D61 fountain of youth, 'Fontaine de Jouvence' Iconclass
32A22 thin (human type) Iconclass
32A22(+0) thin (human type) (+ variant) Iconclass
41A3915 fountain (indoors) Iconclass
46C2 traffic on the water Iconclass
School / Style Symbolism (artistic concept) AAT
George Minne en de kunst rond 1900 (Tentoonstelling Gent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 18.09.1982 - 05.12.1982) / Robert Hoozee, Monique Tahon-Vanroose, Albert Alhadeff. - Brussel : Gemeentekrediet, 1982 (p. 148-149, cat. 70; cf. p. 152-153, cat. 76)
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