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Lot description
A striking and expressive plaster study of the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, modeled in half-length bust format with bowed head and flowing beard. The sculpture captures the introspective and spiritual intensity of the author in his later years. The surface is heavily worked, with lively tool marks and undulating planes typical of Aronson’s Rodin-influenced portraiture. The raw finish of the plaster medium adds to the sense of immediacy and psychological depth. Incised signature: "Aranson". Naoum Aronson was a Russian-Jewish sculptor who trained in Paris and was deeply involved in portraying cultural and intellectual luminaries. He created multiple portraits of Leo Tolstoy, whom he admired greatly, beginning around 1905. Aronson’s busts of Tolstoy are known in plaster, bronze, and marble versions, and were often exhibited in Paris and St. Petersburg. His works emphasize the psychological presence of the sitter over strict anatomical realism, a hallmark of early 20th-century portrait sculpture under Rodin’s influence.