Kneeling Youth

c. 1900

George Minne (Belgian, 1866–1941)

A gaunt young man kneels with his head lowered and his arms wrapped tightly around himself. His posture indicates physical and psychological self-enclosure, but it is unclear whether the composition embodies grief, resignation, torment, or even languor. Sculptor George Minne was celebrated in his lifetime for skillfully conveying of emotional states. This work’s ambiguity reflects the artist’s interest in Symbolism, a movement that prized indeterminate meaning and personal interpretation. This plaster was probably included in the 1900 Vienna Secession exhibition, a key venue for the display of avant-garde art and design.

Status: On View, Gallery 246
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: George Minne
Title: Kneeling Youth
Place: Vienna (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1895–1905
Medium: Plaster
Dimensions: 73.7 × 16.5 × 35.6 cm (29 × 6 1/2 × 14 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Celia and David C. Hilliard
Reference Number: 2021.274

Elisabeth Kashey, “George Minne,” The Pipes of Pan and the Kneeling Youth: A Painting by Bertold Löffler; A Sculpture by George Minne (New York: Shepherd and Derom Galleries, 2008), 10-16, 11(ill.).
Marian Bisanz-Prakken, George Minne and Viennese Modernism around 1900 (Vienna: Wienerroither and Kohlbacher Modern Art, 2011), 13.

The artist; Alfred Roller (died 1935), Vienna, c. 1901; by descent to the Roller family. Sold, Kinsky Auktionen, Vienna, 2007 [according to restricted documentation]. Sold to Shepherd & Derom Galleries, New York, 2007; sold to Celia and David Hilliard, Chicago, 2008; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2021.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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