D*c78—head Study — Black Stone — Jean-baptiste Carpeaux

A drawing of remarkable intensity and density, this black chalk study attests to the frenetic artistic practice of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux—sculptor, painter, and draftsman, one of the most dazzling geniuses of the Second Empire.

Against a background of paper worked up in dark, swirling masses, a human head barely emerges from the black, the face tilted, the features captured in powerful chiaroscuro. Black chalk is applied in broad, overlapping strokes, creating an almost sculptural texture—here we recognize the hand of a man who thinks in volumes before thinking in lines.

For Carpeaux, drawing was not a preliminary step to sculpture: it was a creative act in its own right, as direct and spontaneous as modeling clay. He confided: “Whether with clay, oil, pencil, or pen, the creative act energizes me and leaves me exhausted. ” This sheet, with its swirling darkness and the way it tears form from the shadows, is the exact expression of this art of emergence—a head rising from nothingness just as a sculpture emerges from a block of stone.

Carpeaux’s drawings, most of which were kept in his studio and rarely shown during his lifetime, are now housed at the Petit Palais and in major public collections. Any graphic work by his hand is of considerable rarity and value.

Condition:
Very good overall condition; paper slightly browned; frayed edges at the top.

Dimensions:
Without the mat: 13 cm x 9 cm
With the mat: 25 cm x 20 cm

Sold with a certificate of authenticity