Antoine BOURDELLE completes his monument to Poland in Paris.

Antoine BOURDELLE (1861.1929)

Autographed letter signed to the architect Alfred Rome and his wife.

Two quarto pages. Envelope preserved.

June 24, 1928.

"I have a monument, my first ^for a public square in PARIS . My strength has held. I will finish my work."

Despite the suffering caused by illness, the sculptor is busy finalizing his work in honor of Poland, his first Parisian work.

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…We had a tragic winter. I was extremely ill. I am recovering slowly. But the serious thing is that I am working on a monument, my first ^for a public square in Paris , and I have had to risk all my strength while suffering, and I am still working on this project, despairing of finishing it in time. It is the Mount of Poland that will be erected in the Place de l'Alma – it is surrounded by intrigue, and that is why I must work quickly.

My strength held up. I will finish my work. And I am better. But I don't have a minute to spare from my work. very, very situation because of this crucial project in my career , and I don't have the time or the perspective I normally need to complete it.

Our only hope is that we can leave in August to join our doctor at the spa in Bains-les-Bains (Vosges). We're leaving with two doctors. But will I have finished by then? Because the inauguration (that cursed inauguration) is scheduled […]

For months and months I have had to interrupt the publication of my work, which I will resume as soon as my health is restored and this major undertaking is finished. Always with you all. Ant. Bourdelle.

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A gift from Poland to France, commissioned by the Franco-Polish Committee from Antoine Bourdelle, the "Monument to Adam Mickiewicz" or "Monument to the Epic of Polish Defense" was the sculptor's first work installed in Paris. The initial model dated from 1909, but the project was not inaugurated until twenty years later, on April 28, 1929, in the Place de l'Alma, a few months before the artist's death. Subsequently, in 1956, the monument was moved to the Cours Albert Ier.