Small Kneeling Figure
by MINNE, George, Marble, height 47 cm
In his early years, Minne produced both expressively sculpted images and more contemplative figures. Around 1897, the typical figures of kneeling, mourning, or injured figures from his earlier oeuvre underwent a process of purification and abstraction, as seen in the more stylized and refined figure of the kneeling youth, Minne’s best-known sculpture. In the famous Fountain of the Kneeling Youths, he arranged five identical copies around a water basin with a controlled rhythm of straight or curved lines and surfaces.
The photo shows a bronze version in Ghent. The figures date c. 1905, the water basin c. 1927-30.