16.12.2024
Alte Nationalgalerie
At one time, the life-sized figure Le Drame Lyrique (Lyrical Drama), also known as the Geigerin (The Female Violinist), adorned the lobby of the Opéra Comique, the third oldest theatre institution in Paris, where the work by French sculptor Alexandre Falguière (1831–1900) was on display until 1932. This sculpture had been considered lost since 1939, following its transfer to Musée des Beaux-Arts in Angers in 1936, but the figure, formerly of unknown origin that had long been housed in the Alte Nationalgalerie, has recently been returned to France.
The Geigerin entered the Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP)’s list of acquisitions on 16 March 1897, under the inventory number 3674. Its location was listed as the “Opéra-Comique”, where it embellished the staircase, together with the figure Manon aka Opéra-Comique, by Falguière’s former student Antonin Merciés (1845–1916). Falguière’s sculpture was taken down in 1932 as part of the theatre’s renovation and placed in CNAP storage for marble works. The inventory entry noting its location at the Opéra-Comique was deleted at that time. In 1936, the sculpture was brought to Angers in Western France, where its arrival was documented in local newspaper articles and photographs. After that, all trace of the work disappears.
The first entry at the Alte Nationalgalerie was made in 1981. The sculpture was recorded among the Alte Nationalgalerie holdings with inventory number B II 95, accompanied by the note “Besitzer nicht zu ermitteln” (owner remains unidentified). The work had already been in the museum’s care for some time, as we know from file notes. The identity of the work, which once stood in the Opéra-Comique, was established through features documented in the historical photographs from Angers.
For several years, a close exchange has existed between the staff at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Alte Nationalgalerie, Zentralarchiv) and CNAP colleagues, as well as those at the Opéra-Comique in Paris – who have all joined in researching this case.
Like other public collections and museums with “Musée de France” status, CNAP’s collections are inalienable and inviolable, so the artwork cannot have come to Berlin by being sold. The Alte Nationalgalerie was located in the German Democratic Republic when the work was inventoried. A transfer from France to the GDR after the division of Europe seems very unlikely. Both parties have concluded that, in all likelihood, the Geigerin was brought to Berlin within the context of the Second World War and remains CNAP property.
CNAP intends to reinstall the statue in the Opéra-Comique following restoration work carried out in France. Yvette Deseyve, deputy director of the Alte Nationalgalerie and the curator responsible for sculpture, expressed:
I am delighted that we have been able to jointly identify the provenance of Falguière’s work and that through this research, the figure’s return to its original site will be made possible.