“Jean” by Gilbert Bayes (1872-1953)

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Jean

Gilbert Bayes (1872-1953)

Plaster

Height: 6 ½ inches; (11 inches including plinth) width: 2 inches, diameter: 5 inches

Private collection

The current owner relates “an odd story” about the bust's attribution: “It was sold” by very reputable London dealer as the work of Gertrude Bayes, 1899-1921, and the provenance says: ‘From the studio of Jessie Bayes’ (Gilbert's sister). However, when the catalogue raisonné of Bayes's work came out in 1998, the caption of a photograph on page 93 which includes this piece states ‘Group of plasters” by Bayes, formerly stored in the garden shed at his house, 4 Greville Place, London.‘ The dealer thereupon issued an invoice crediting the piece to Gilbert Bayes, which was what you would deduce from the information in photograph. [continued below]

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Some time later, at the opening of the Bayes Gallery at the V&A, the owner told the head of the Gilbert Bayes Foundation the story. He said he would check with Irvine and Atterbury. He finally sent a post card saying they thought it was neither Gilbert, Jessie or Gertrude Bayes, but someone else entirely, who was an assistant in the studio. Since this isn't what the picture in their book says, we've left it as Gilbert, but there is a real question of the attribution about this piece.

Bibliography

Irvine, Louise, and Paul Atterbury. Gilbert Bayes, Sculptor (1872-1953). Exhibition catalogue. Shepton Beauchamp: Richard Dennis, 1998. p. 93.

Last modified 13 April 2011