“Contemplating Woman”

Original and rare bronze sculpture of a young woman in contemplation by the well known American sculptor Helene Sardeau. Signed on the lower back “h. Sardeau” and dated 1928. Valsuani foundry stamp to right of date. This sculpture was made by Helene Sardeau when she was living in Paris in 1928. Condition is very good. Provenance: A Long Island, New York collector.

The Valsuani Foundry
The Valsuani Foundry, established in Paris in the late 19th century by master caster Claude Valsuani and later operated by his son Georges, became renowned for its exceptional cire perdue (lost-wax) bronze casting. Celebrated for its precision and artistry, the foundry produced bronzes for leading modern artists—including Rodin, Degas, Claudel, Picasso, and Giacometti—earning a lasting reputation as one of France’s finest art foundries.

Hélène Sardeau (1899–1969) was an American sculptor, born in Antwerp, who moved with her family to the United States when she was about 14 years old. She was a founding member of the Sculptors Guild. Her first major commission was The Slave (1940), completed as part of the Central Terrace of the Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial in Philadelphia and exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art before its permanent installation. Her terra cotta sculpture, The Lovers (1937), was included in the Museum of Modern Art's “Three Centuries of American Modernism” in 1938, an exhibition that also traveled to the Musée du Jeu de Paume in Paris. In 1942, Brazil's Minister of Education commissioned Sardeau and her husband, George Biddle, for sculptural reliefs and mural paintings, respectively, at the National Library in Rio de Janeiro, for which Sardeau sculpted on the themes of violence and compassion. In the summer of 1949, she was one of 254 sculptors who exhibited in the 3rd Sculpture International held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.