artwork image
Image courtesy of the Museo del Paesaggio, Palazzo Viani Dugnani, Verbania

George Bernard Shaw (George Bernard Shaw)

Year:

1908 (circa)

Dimensions (cm):

70 x 42 x 34

Dimensions (inches):

27.56 x 16.54 x 13.39

Medium:

Sculptures

Material:

plaster, grey green patina

Current location:

Verbania Pallanza, Museo del Paesaggio: inv. T n. 270

Description Provenance Exhibitions Bibliography

Troubetzkoy sculpted during his career four portraits for George Bernard Shaw. The playwright also presented a solo exhibition of Troubetzkoy at the Colnaghi Gallery in London in 1931. The present bust could be dated 1908 and exhibited at the Paris Salon of that same year. The meeting with Troubetzkoy and the history of his portraits are narrated in a letter by Shaw to Jacob Epstein (published in Pearson, Op. cit., 1943, pp. 303-308). Between 1926 and 1927, Troubetzkoy realized many portraits of the writer: a second bust in plaster at the Museo del Paesaggio (inv. T. n. 298), whilst the bronze is kept in the collections of the Tate Gallery. There is also a full length seated portrait (Museo del Paesaggio, inv. T n. 109) and one life size (Museo del Paesaggio inv. T n. 329), the bronze at the National Gallery of Ireland and a last one in a private collection in London (Frezzotti, 2017).

Paul Troubetzkoy (1866-1938), Italy, until 1938;
By descent to the heirs, Rhoda Muriel Marie Somerwell and Luigi Troubetzkoy;
Donated to the Museo del Paesaggio, 1938-1939

Le Cinquante expositions des gravures originales, Gallery Georges Petit, Paris, 1908;
The American Numismatic Society at the Hispanic Society of America, New York 1911 (march) n. 25;
Catalogue of Sculpture by Prince Paul Troubetzkoy . The Art Institute, Chicago 1912 (february) n. 21;
A Collection of Sculpture by Prince Paul Troubetzkoy, City Art Museum of St. Louis 1912 (march), n. 21;
Exhibition of Sculpture by Prince Paul Troubetzkoy. The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo (USA) 1912 (april), n. 21 ;
Prima Esposizione Nazionale d'arte della Secessione, Rome 1913, n.7;
Exhibition of Paul Troubetzkoy, Newport 1915 (august-september) n. 14;
Museo del Paesaggio, Verbania, 1990, n. 124

A. Alexandre,"Les petites expositions" in Le Figaro, 27 maggio 1908;
C.L. Borgmeyer, "Prince Paul Troubetzkoy" in Fine Arts, n. 1, 1 luglio 1911 p. 14 ripr. ;
D. Angeli,"I Secessionisti" in L'Illustrazione Italiana, I sem. 1913, p. 361 ripr.;
I. Falbo," La mostra della Secession"in Il Messaggero, 24 marzo 1913;
R. Giolli, 1913, p. 24;
H. Pearson, "George Bernard Shaw. His life and personality"Londra 1943, pp. 303-308;
S. Frezzotti, exh.cat., in Paolo Troubetzkoy, 1990, pp. 174-176 n. 124;
Paolo Troubetzkoy, La Collezione del Museo del Paesaggio, Palazzo Viani Dugnani, Verbania, 2017, p. 144