Charles Henri Joseph Cordier SAID-ABDALLAH and African-Venus 3D Model Collection

Charles Henri Joseph Cordier SAID-ABDALLAH and Charles-Cordier African-Venus

Charles-Henri-Joseph Cordier 1827 - 1905 FRENCH SAID ABDALLAH, DE LA TRIBU DE MAYAC, ROYAUME DE DARFOUR (BUST OF SAID ABDALLA OF THE DARFOUR PEOPLE) signed: CH. CORDIER bronze, silvered, gilt, and red patina, on a bronze socle and a black marble and veined red marble base

Charles Cordier African Venus France (1851) Bronze, The Walters Museum: Cordier submitted a plaster cast of the bust of an African visitor to Paris to the Salon of 1848, and two years later he again entered it as a bronze (Walters 54.2664). A young African woman served as the model for this companion piece in 1851. Regarded as powerful expressions of nobility and dignity, these sculptures proved to be highly popular: casts were acquired by the Museum of National History in Paris and also by Queen Victoria. The Walters’ pair were cast by the Paris foundry Eck and Durand in 1852. These bronzes were esteemed by 19th-century viewers as expressions of human pride and dignity in the face of grave injustice.

Charles-Henri-Joseph Cordier 1827 - 1905 FRENCH BUST OF SAID ABDALLAH DE LA TRIBU DE MAYAC (SAID ABDULLA OF THE DARFOUR PEOPLE) signed: CH. CORDIER, and with a partially legible inscription on the back: [...] Paris bronze, dark brown patina, on a yellow marble, red marble, and black marble socle 'A superb Sudanese turned up at the studio. Within a fortnight I did his bust and sent it to the Salon, feeling quite sure that it would be accepted. Just then the Revolution of 1848 burst out, and the jury was democratically elected. Trembling, I got up my nerve to send in the Sudanese bust anyway, and it was a revelation to the art world. Standing in front of it, Pradier said: Who did this? Here is a fellow who will be a sculptor! My teacher [Francois Rude], who was a member of the jury, stepped forward and said: My student, Charles Cordier. Some people turned away but this did not interfere with success. Indeed I won an honourable mention.'

This was how Cordier remembered the creation of Said Abdallah's bust in his memoirs, from his very first exhibition at the Paris Salon of 1848. The vogue for Orientalist subjects was strong, and Cordier went on to create many popular busts and figures in this genre. He also took an interest in European subjects detailing national types and costumes. In 1851 Cordier was given the post of ethnographic sculptor to the Musee d'Histoire Naturelle, which he held for 15 years. During this time he made government sponsored tours of Algeria, Greece, and Egypt.