1911 R.Duchamp-villon Bronze horse "Petit Cheval"

A cubist black patinated bronze model of a standing horse mounted on an integral plinth base, signed and dated on the plinth 29 x 34 x 14 cm It's tempting to believe that Raymond Duchamp-Villon (née Pierre-Maurice-Raymond Duchamp) was destined to become an artist – his maternal grandfather was the well-known painter and engraver, Émile Frédéric Nicolle, and three of his five siblings, Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Villon, and Suzanne Duchamp-Crotti all forged successful careers as artists. However, Duchamp-Villon had early ambitions to become a doctor and studied for several years before graduating from the Sorbonne before a crippling bout of rheumatic fever forced him to retire from his studies in 1898. It was during this period of recovery that Duchamp-Villon, encouraged by his brothers Jacques and Marcel, began to experiment with sculpture. The remarkable gifts of the self-taught sculptor were soon recognized and in 1902 and 1903 he was invited to exhibit at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, where he exhibited under the designation "Raymond Duchamp-Villon" to distinguish his work from that of his brothers. In 1905, Duchamp-Villon exhibited at the Salon d'Automne and only two years later, in 1907, his reputation had grown to such an extent that he was elected as a jury member for the sculpture department of the Salon. Duchamp-Villon's early experiments in sculpture were largely centered around the more naturalistic model of sculpture as dictated by Auguste Rodin. However, by the 1910s, as the world around him changed, so did his art. Together with his brothers, Marcel and Jacques, Duchamp-Villon became an important figure in the Section d'Or group from 1911 onwards, a collective of painters, sculptors, poets and critics associated with Cubism and Orphism. As one of the first artists to introduce Cubist principles,