Carlier E.- Jh. (1849-1927)-undecided Love, 1894. Bronze Statuette.

Emile-Joseph CARLIER (Cambrai, 1849-Paris, 1927), after- L'Amour Indecis, 1894. Bronze proof with a nuanced brown patina, finely modeled, representing, gracefully kneeling on clouds concealing her quiver with fletched arrows, an ingenuous childlike figure with naked forms surrounded by a swirling drapery, holding near his face illuminated by a mischievous smile the index finger of his right hand - inviting Silence - and, now, nestled in his left hand, the shaft he meditates to fire at his next Target, now disarmed and vulnerable. Signed "Carlier" intaglio on the back of its base, this statuette "of charming inspiration" is based on a circular molded base in dark ribboned Campan marble with a gilt bronze rim. Antique Edition Cast from a model created by the artist-sculptor around 1894-1896
French School of Sculpture from the second half of the 19th - early 20th century
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Between Love and Malice:

With L'Amour Destructeur *presented at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1894, this "study of a child as pretty as can be" (H. Malo, 1894) titled L'Amour indécis *heralds a period during which Emile J. Carlier, then at the height of his official career, freed himself from his theatrical groups with serious allegorical subjects** whose "science of the male nude, put to good use by a thoughtful imagination in expressive and skillfully balanced compositions," earned him awards, distinctions, and renown at national events and World's Fairs. While devoting himself from then on to singing in "works full of a diaphanous grace where suppleness, majesty or eurythmy triumph, revealing a most acute plastic perception" (P. Petit, 1927) the Cambrai sculptor will delight in modeling, like his distinguished colleagues (L.E. Barrias, E. Boisseau, G. Deloye, the Moreau brothers), in the playful and amiably refined spirit of the 18th century, statuettes "of a charming inspiration" which, by their turns just "as seductive as they are decisive", will obtain the acclaim "of the Salon regulars and art critics". Not without affinities with the very famous Cupid, known as Menacing Love (marble statue, Paris, Louvre, Inv. R.F 296), designed by E.M. Falconet (1716-1791) in 1755 for Louis XV's mistress, Madame de Pompadour, of whom it constitutes a witty adaptation in a personal way, Carlier's Indecisive Love seduces with its well-felt natural composition, its formal elegance and alacrity, as well as its deliciously mischievous character.
The sanyète is amusing and most enjoyable: personified in the ingenuous features of a young winged child perched on clouds concealing his quiver, one hand holding a dart, the other near his face, encircled by a band raised on his forehead, ordering him to be silent, Cupid lies in ambush. Surprised, his vulnerable "victim" will not escape the tender and laughing Messenger of Venus, or, more profanely, of the heavens. A lovely model that will make everyone smile.

*The Destroyer: Presented in plaster at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1894, then in marble at the Salon of French Artists in 1896 (no. 3302), this statuette depicting, in the Pompadour style, a toddler sitting on a soft cushion and enjoying tearing the pages of a large book one by one, won the Eugène Piot Prize awarded by the Académie des Beaux-Arts for a sculpture depicting a naked child aged 8 to 11 months. Indecisive Love: Produced in two sizes by the Société des Bronzes d'Art de Paris. ** Gilliat Seized by the Octopus (1879), Man Before the Stone Age (1881), Brotherhood: The Blind and the Paralytic (1883), The Family (1886) - The Mirror (1897), Day and Night (1897), Music and Profane Dance (1904), Youth, Diana the Huntress (1912), The Wave (1913), Pannyra with the Golden Heels (1914)...
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Related literature: Bénèzit, Critical and Documentary Dictionary of Painters, Sculptors, .., Paris: Grund, 1966, Vol. 2, p. 317; - Kjellberg, Pierre, The Bronzes of the 19th Century. Dictionary of Sculptors, Paris: Ed;de L'Amateur, pp. 173-174; -Langlade, Emile, "Joseph Carlier," in: The Artists of My Time, Vol. 3, 1929-1938, pp. 9-23; -Malo, Henri, The Salon of the Champs-Elysées, in: Revue du Nord de la France, January 1, 1894, p. 346; --Peignè, Guillaume, Dictionary of Neo-Baroque Sculptors, Paris: CTHS, 2012, pp. 92-101.;-; -Petit, Paul, "Emile-Joseph Carlier, 1849-1927," in Retrospective of the works of the sculptor E.Jh. Carlier, Friends of Cambrai, 1928, pp. 11-17
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Signature and marks: Signed on the reverse of the base: "Carlier." Undated
Materials: Patinated bronze. Gilt bronze strapping: Ribboned Campan marble.
Dimensions: Bronze: H. 20 cm; Total height with base: 23.5 cm - Base diameter: 13 x 13 cm.
French School of Sculpture, 19th - early 20th century