Provenance
Jacques Fischer and Chantal Kiener, Paris, 1987;
Private collection, France
Exhibitions
Paris Salon of 1904, number 2953.
Louis –Jacques Guigues was a pupil of Alfred Boucher and then Auguste Rodin.
Boucher, who won the Grand Prix du Salon in 1881, provided inspiration and
encouragement to the next generation of sculptures such as Guigues, Laure
Coutan, and Camile Claudel. Before moving to Florence in 1881, Boucher
asked Rodin to take over the instruction of his pupils. This is how Rodin and
Claudel met and their tumultuous and passionate relationship began.
Guigues became the director of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Montpellier, where
from 1922-1925 he was the teacher of the sculpture Germain Richier.
The present 1904 Salon piece, entitled Nocturne depicts the life-size head and
hair covered shoulders of a female figure, eyes closed, emerging from a swirling
block of stone. She is a perfect personification of Night.