Bag carriers by Gaudier-Brzeska

Works by Orléans sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (1891-1915) are rare outside the studio holdings distributed after the war by Jim Ede between the collections of the MBA in Orléans, the Centre Pompidou and Kettle's Yard in Cambridge. Together with the Amis des Musées d'Orléans, the museum was able to acquire this important bas-relief at auction, showing an aspect not yet represented in the Orleans collections. The plaster of these bag-bearers was made around 1912-1913, when the artist arrived in London, where he was to become one of the leading figures of the avant-garde. They were cast in bronze by Horace Brodzky in the early 1930s, much earlier than the majority of bronzes on the market, which were cast in the 1960s. This sculpture will join the new Gaudier-Brzeska cabinet currently being fitted out on level -1 of the MBA.