A dynamic Beaux-Arts/Art Nouveau bronze sculpture depicting three nude male runners in a taut, straining dead-heat toward the finish line — arms outstretched, bodies leaning forward in a single dramatic diagonal thrust of motion. Cast in dark-patinated bronze, the group is raised on its original naturalistic rocky bronze base, in turn mounted on a stepped rouge marble socle. The bronze is signed "A. Boucher" to the base and bears the circular foundry stamp "Siot Decauville Fondeur, Paris."

This is a smaller édition reduction of Boucher's most celebrated composition, first exhibited as a plaster at the Paris Salon of 1886 under the title Au But!, where it won a first-class medal and established the sculptor's reputation. The state subsequently awarded Boucher the Légion d'Honneur and commissioned a life-size bronze version, exhibited at the Salon of 1887, which was installed in the Luxembourg Gardens until its destruction during the Nazi occupation. Given the popularity of the work, it was cast in numerous sizes by several foundries, including Barbedienne, Susse, and Siot-Decauville — the present example bearing the latter mark.
cadacanada
langmann

Alfred Boucher (French, 1850–1934) was a leading academic sculptor of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known for athletic and allegorical bronze figures rendered with anatomical precision and a strong sense of movement. Born in Bouy-sur-Orvin, he trained under Paul Dubois and exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon. Au But! remains his signature work, prized for capturing the intensity of competitive motion — a theme that resonated with the growing sporting culture that would soon give rise to the modern Olympic Games. Boucher was also an important patron of the arts, founding La Ruche, the famed artists' colony in Montparnasse that housed Chagall, Modigliani, Léger, and Zadkine.