Bronze Bust Of Harold Sydney Harmsworth By émile Oscar Guillaume Leblanc Barbedienne

Bronze bust depicting press magnate Oscar Sidney Harmsworth (1867–1940)².
The sculptor, Émile Oscar Guillaume¹, friend of Aristide Briand, with whom he shared pacifist ideals—created numerous bronze portraits of prominent figures from the Third French Republic.
This bust was cast using the lost-wax process by Leblanc Barbedienne in Paris, a mark used until 1954.
It features its original white marble base, which lends it a subtle Art Deco aesthetic.Superb period patina.
Shipping available via Chronopost or Colissimo:
France: €50
Europe: €80
Elsewhere: €140
¹Émile-Oscar Guillaume was the son of Oscar Amédée, a Parisian bootmaker, and Célestine Aimable Blanche Berthault. He pursued his artistic training at the École des Arts Décoratifs and subsequently the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, studying under Jules Cavelier, Aimé Millet, and Louis-Ernest Barrias.
His best-known works include:
*L’Effort* (1907) in Vanves (Hauts-de-Seine),
*Aux champs* (1909) at the Cité Universitaire in Paris, the
*Les Braves Gens* monument in Floing (1910), and *Aux marins du Pluviôse* (1913) in Calais.
In the early 20th century, he contributed to the decoration and embellishment of numerous public and private establishments, including the Casino-Théâtre in Vichy, the La Cigale café-concert in Paris, the Municipal Theatre in Tunis, and the pediments of the Caisse d’Épargne and the Post Office (Hôtel des Postes) in Auxerre, as well as the Caisse d’Épargne in Gien.
It is also worth noting his remarkable contribution to the decoration of the Palácio das Laranjeiras in Rio de Janeiro, often referred to as the "Versailles" of Brazil.
He was commissioned to create several commemorative monuments:
*Jusqu’à mon dernier souffle* ("Until My Last Breath") in Pacy-sur-Eure (1933), and *Les Méditations* ("Meditations") in Cocherel (1934) and Ouistreham.
He also sculpted a bust of the politician, which is on display at the League of Nations museum in Geneva.
His most famous work remains the statue *La Délivrance* ("Deliverance"). Gifted by the newspaper *Le Matin* in 1919 to eleven cities that had suffered greatly during the First World War, the piece helped establish the sculptor’s reputation.
One cast was acquired by the municipality of Nantes (1927).
²Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere (April 26, 1868 – November 26, 1940), was a successful British press magnate and the owner of Associated Newspapers Ltd.He is best known—along with his brother Alfred Harmsworth, who later became Viscount Northcliffe—for the development of the *Daily Mail* and the *Daily Mirror*.
He was a pioneer of popular journalism.
A friend of the sculptor Émile Guillaume, Rothermere purchased Guillaume’s statue *La Délivrance*—which had won the gold medal at the 1924 Salon des Artistes Français—and gifted it to the town of Finchley, near London.
On that occasion, the British press hailed Émile-Oscar Guillaume as the "greatest contemporary sculptor."