Woman Reading

Artist Aimé-Jules Dalou (French, 1838-1902)

Place of OriginFrance

Dateoriginal about 1877; cast about 1905-1917

DimensionsH: 22 in. (55.9 cm)

MediumBronze

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1963.35

Not on View

Label TextAlthough Aimé-Jules Dalou’s life ambition was to become a sculptor of public monuments, after he was exiled from France for his revolutionary politics, he found great success in England sculpting tabletop domestic scenes like Woman Reading. Dalou has captured an intimate moment of a woman absorbed in a book, a common and appropriate pastime for upper-class 19th-century women. Woman Reading represents a stylish woman of leisure, as evidenced by her delicate high heels, her fashionable and voluminous robe, and the decorative chair she sits upon. The sculpture contrasts greatly with Dalou’s Model for the Delacroix Monument, also in the Museum’s collection, which is more dynamic and speaks to Dalou’s ambition to create “public heroic art.”Exhibition HistoryJules Dalou, Woman Reading, bronze (1963.35); William Rothenstein, Charles Conder, 1892, oil on canvas (1952.86) Exhibition: "Degas and Britain" Venues: Tate Britain, London, England, October 6, 2005 - January 15, 2006; Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., February 18 - May 14, 2006 Overall dates: October 6, 2005 - May 14, 2006 Note: Dalou has been added to the London venue of this exhibition

Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, Alabama. 2002-03.

Norton Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL. 2003.