Title: Early 20th-Century Female Bronze Bust on Stand by Oliver Grymes

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Description

She’s certainly no beauty, possibly in her 30s, but there’s a strength and clarity about this woman. She does her … Read more She’s certainly no beauty, possibly in her 30s, but there’s a strength and clarity about this woman. She does her long hair into a complex chignon, a practical style in those years prior to the 1920s when Chanel famously chopped her tresses off before a night at the opera.
We don’t know who sat for sculptor Oliver Grymes, but in his time, he was a sought-after artist. For example, he was commissioned to do a sculpture of Daniel Thompkins, an American vice president, for the garden at St. Mark’s in The Bowery historic church in lower Manhattan, by the US Daughters of 1812.
As marked on the piece, the bust was cast at the Jean Griffond Foundry in Newark, N.J. Auguste Griffoul, the son of Parisian foundryman Jean-Baptiste Griffoul, established the foundry in Newark around 1905. Before moving to the United States, Auguste Griffoul worked in his father's foundry in Paris, where he and Jean-Baptiste cast works for famed sculptor Auguste Rodin, notably creating the first cast of Rodin’s The Thinker in 1896.
Auguste Griffoul's Newark operation was reportedly the last foundry in America to use French sand, a traditional material for fine casting. It's likely that Auguste initially named the company after his father’s to get established in the US. But it was eventually known as the Auguste Griffoul Foundry. In Newark, it cast works for such prominent American artists as Charles M. Russell, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and James Earle Fraser. The company was also known for producing finely crafted bronze decorative items, such as bookends featuring various motifs to be offered through high-end retailers like Tiffany & Co.
Also clear is that this piece was crafted prior to 1916. The company went into receivership during World War I, and artistic foundry work was effectively ended around 1916.

Signature: below sculpture figure's left collarbone
Foundry mark: underside rim, at back See less