Bust of a Young Man

This compelling portrait of a studio model—composed in just 90 minutes during a demonstration at a London art school—testifies to Aimé-Jules Dalou’s skill at shaping clay. The artist did not speak English, and so his classes were essentially visual performances: he rapidly modeled a sculpture in clay over the course of a lesson and directed students to follow his lead. The French-born British sculptor Édouard Lantéri later recalled that Dalou “completely carried his students away with him. He knew how to inspire them with the desire to work as well as the love of work, and succeeded in awakening an extraordinary enthusiasm where all before seemed dormant.”