Artist: Sarah Bernhardt
Museum: National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington, United States)
Technique: Sculpture
“Après la tempête (After the Storm)” depicts a Breton peasant woman cradling the body of her grandson who had been caught in a fisherman’s nets. Sarah Bernhardt had seen this woman on the seashore and was moved by her story, which ended tragically with the death of the child. But in Bernhardt’s sculpture the the child’s right hand grips the woman’s garment, perhaps suggesting the possibility of a more hopeful ending.The artist allegedly took anatomy lessons specifically to convey the intensity of the subject. Her ability to render textures from smooth skin to rough nets adds to the naturalism of the piece. Bernhardt’s arrangement of the figures suggests her knowledge of works such as Michelangelo
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