"man's Bust" (plaster With Bronze Patina, Numbered: 2255) By Johannes Dommisse (1878-1955)

The work by Johannes Dommisse, a man's bust in plaster with a bronze-style patina, depicts a masculine subject with a prominent profile.

• Composition and Pose: The bust is truncated just below the shoulders and rests on a dark rectangular base (often black marble). The man is depicted in a contrapposto of the torso, turning his head to his right, creating a dynamic tension and an expression of intense concentration or perhaps an appeal/call. This pose highlights the vigorously sculpted musculature of the neck, shoulders, and upper back.

• Style and Finish: The plaster with bronze patina technique gives the work the appearance and color (often a green or blue-green patina, reminiscent of aged bronze) of a metal casting, while allowing for great expressiveness in the modeling. The facial features, the stubble/nascent beard, and the short, shaggy hair are rendered with strong realism and a highly worked texture, giving the subject an athletic and expressive look, evoking a common man or a worker.

• Expression: The subject has an open and intense expression, with the mouth slightly ajar, suggesting a physical effort, a cry, or speech. The gaze is directed forward (from the neck's twisted perspective) with a certain quiet strength and determination, as noted by some sources.

Johannes Dommisse's work "Man's Bust" is clearly part of the Art Deco movement, which dominated the 1920s and 1930s.

• The Artistic Movement: Art Deco (1920–1939)

• Strict Justification:

  • Themes: Art Deco, particularly in sculpture, often celebrates the modern, athletic, and working man (fishermen, athletes, allegorical figures of effort). The "Man's Bust," with its powerful musculature and expression of exertion, fits perfectly into this theme, which glorifies strength, vitality, and labor. The artist Dommisse is also known for Art Deco works such as "Les Haleurs" (The Haulers) or "L'Archer" (The Archer).

  • Style and Aesthetics: Although this bust retains a certain naturalism (close to academicism or early 20th-century realism), it is treated with a stylization typical of Art Deco.

    • Vigor and Simplification: The volumes are simplified and powerful (broad shoulders, massive neck), seeking visual impact and formal synthesis rather than photographic fidelity.

    • Lines and Dynamism: The dramatic twist of the head is not merely expressive; it creates a dynamic line and a geometric tension in the silhouette—a penchant for the dynamics of form found in Art Deco, often linked to the spirit of speed and movement.

    • Materials and Patinas: The use of green patina on plaster (or terracotta) imitating aged bronze is very common in Art Deco decorative production, making the art accessible while maintaining a luxurious and architectural aesthetic.

The work is therefore an example of Art Deco sculpture that, while using the classic human figure, reinterprets it with expressive force, muscular stylization, and simplification of forms, all characteristics of the era.

• Birth and Death: Johannes Dommisse was born in 1878 in Delft, Netherlands, and died in 1955 in The Hague (Netherlands), although he spent a large part of his career and life in Belgium, primarily in Brussels.

• Career and Nationality: He is often considered a Belgian sculptor due to his activity and affiliation with Belgian schools and galleries.

• Training and Public Works: Detailed biographical information is limited, but it is known that he executed important works in the field of monumental and architectural sculpture. He is notably mentioned for having worked on the Berlage Bridge in Amsterdam and for having designed a pediment for the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

• Style and Work: The majority of his output consists of figurative sculptures, often in bronze, terracotta, or patinated plaster, and falls, as mentioned, into the Art Deco movement (1920s–1930s). He is particularly recognized for:

  • His expressive male busts (Man's Bust, Aviator's Bust).

  • His figures of workers (Les Haleurs or Men Hauling).

  • Animal themes (panther), mythological themes (The Archer), and busts of personalities (such as the composer Frédéric Chopin).

• Museum Presence: His works are featured in several museums, particularly in the Netherlands, such as the Gemeentemuseum Arnhem and the Centraal Museum Utrecht.

This bust is a characteristic work of Johannes Dommisse within the Belgian/Dutch Art Deco movement of the early 20th century, combining realistic modeling and stylized expression.