Rating and value of sculptures and bronzes by Séraphin Soubdinine

If you own a work by or based on the artist Séraphin Soudbinine and would like to know its value, our state-approved experts and auctioneers can help you.

Our specialists will carry out a free appraisal of your work, and provide you with a precise estimate of its current market value.

Then, if you want to sell your work, we'll point you in the right direction to get the best possible price for it.  

Artist's rating and value

Considered one of Auguste Rodin's most promising pupils, Séraphin Soudbinine sculpted numerous bronzes. Also a draughtsman, Soudbinine enjoyed a certain reputation during his lifetime, establishing himself as a major figure on the art market.

Today highly regarded and sought-after by collectors, the price of works by Séraphin Soudbinine soars at auction and can reach hundreds of thousands of euros, as witnessed by his marble bust of a young woman, 42.9 cm high, which sold for €284,500 in 2018, whereas it was estimated at between €45,500 and €68,300.

Order of value from the most basic to the most prestigious

Style and technique of artist Séraphin Soudbinine

Séraphin Soudbinine's style and technique reflect a rigorous craftsmanship inherited from his apprenticeship with Auguste Rodinwhile asserting a singular, uncluttered vision.

His work is characterized by a constant search for balance between form and expressiveness, where soft lines and simple volumes seem to carry a restrained emotional charge. Far from dramatic effects, he favors a sobriety that reinforces the silent presence of his figures, whether human or animal. 

Soudbinine works mainly in stone and bronze, materials he masters with remarkable technical precision. In his stone sculptures, he exploits the intrinsic qualities of the material, playing on texture and polished surfaces to capture light and accentuate the fluidity of forms.

Through this economy of means, he manages to convey a certain interiority, a discreet but deeply-rooted spirituality. 

Compared to his contemporaries, such as Maillol or BourdelleSoudbinine's measured abstraction is more akin to synthesis than to rupture.

Where Maillol celebrates the fullness of the female body and Bourdelle exalts heroic movement, Soudbinine focuses on a more meditative, almost ascetic expression, inscribed in compact, balanced forms.

This quest for timeless purity makes his work a modern echo of the classical canons, while paving the way for a new sculptural sensibility.

The life of Seraphim Soudbinin

Born in 1867 in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, Séraphin Soudbinine embodies a fascinating trajectory, straddling two worlds: that of his Russian heritage and that of a France in full artistic effervescence.

Initially trained as an actor in Moscow, he joined Stanislavski's Art Theater, but his destiny changed when he turned to sculpture in the late 1890s.

Drawn to Europe, he settled in Paris and became a pupil of Auguste Rodin in 1904, whose studio profoundly shaped his artistic sensibility. 

Soudbinine quickly distinguished himself by his refined approach, contrasting with the exuberance of his master, and began exhibiting in 1909.

His works met with a favorable response, particularly from a circle of enlightened amateurs who recognized in him a singular voice, blending classical influences and nascent modernity.

The Russian Revolution of 1917 cut him off from his roots and prompted him to make France his permanent home, where he pursued a discreet but steady career. 

Throughout his life, Soudbinine refused to compromise commercially, preferring a limited, meticulous output. He died in Paris in 1944, leaving behind a body of work imbued with a profound serenity.

Although his name remains relatively unknown to the general public, his influence is evident in the way he has reconciled heritage and modernity, inscribing his sculptures in a universal, meditative temporality.

Séraphin Soudbinine's imprint

Although discreet, Séraphin Soudbinine's imprint on his era is part of a quest for timelessness that stands in stark contrast to the stylistic upheavals of the early 20th century.

Heir to Rodin's teachings, he adopts a resolutely refined approach, eschewing naturalistic excess in favor of flowing, almost spiritual forms.

In the midst of modernist effervescence, as art ventured towards abstraction and radical experimentation, Soudbinine chose to concentrate on the essentials: line, volume and the expression of restrained emotion. 

His influence can be seen in the way he blended classical traditions, stemming from Russian symbolism and Rodin's teachings, with a contemporary sensibility marked by simplicity and contemplation.

At a time when art was fragmenting into multiple movements, his work recalled the power of a sculptural discourse centered on humanity and serenity.

His works, though few in number, found a place among a circle of aesthetes sensitive to this quest for universality, illustrating a precious counterpoint to the frenzy of the avant-garde. 

Although his name is often overshadowed by the giants of his period, Soudbinine's legacy lies in this singularity: a timeless art, where form and meaning meet to express a calmed beauty, far removed from the tumult and stylistic ruptures of his time.

Focus on La Tristesse, Séraphin Soudbinine

The La Tristesse bust of Séraphin Soudbinine is part of an approach in which formal sobriety is placed at the service of universal expression. Produced in finely polished marble, it bears witness to the search for a balance between simplicity and emotional depth.

The slightly idealized facial features convey a quiet melancholy. The closed eyelids, delicate lip line and softened contours exude a restraint where any dramatic effect seems deliberately excluded. 

In this work, Soudbinine inherits the lessons of Rodin, particularly in his treatment of matter as a vehicle of interiority. However, his quest for harmony is almost spiritual, probably influenced by his attachment to his Russian roots and Orthodox iconography.

This sculptural simplicity, which plays on light and reduced volumes, also recalls the aesthetics of the primitives, where each element serves an essential, timeless emotion. 

The choice of marble, a demanding but noble material, is not insignificant: it lends permanence and solemnity to this figure of restrained sadness. In its expressive restraint, the work calls for silent, profound contemplation.

Far from narrative demonstrations or grandiloquent effects, this bust perfectly illustrates Soudbinine's conception of sculpture: not as an imitation of the living, but as a reflection on the essence of the human soul, translated into the purity of the artistic gesture. 

Séraphin Soudbinine's stylistic influences

Séraphin Soudbinine is part of an artistic landscape where classical traditions and modernist aspirations converge, while asserting a deeply personal stylistic identity.

A pupil of Rodin, he assimilated the master's sensitivity to movement and material, but favored a more austere interpretation, guided by a quest for formal purity.

The influences of Greek archaic art, perceptible in his sculptures with their simplified volumes, intertwine with a fascination for Byzantine iconography, where frontality and rigor compose a timeless solemnity. 

This convergence of heritages is not unlike the approach of sculptors such as Antoine Bourdelle, who revisits antiquity with monumental vigor, or Aristide Maillol, whose full, smooth forms respond to an aesthetic of the essential.

However, Soudbinine integrates a specific spiritual breath into this tradition, marked by his Russian origins and his attraction to Orthodoxy, which give his works a meditative gravity.

In addition, his ceramic work, inspired by the mastery of Asian fire arts, bears witness to an attention to detail and sensitivity to material that brings him closer to Japanese craft practices.

In this way, Soudbinine achieves a synthesis between different artistic universes, transforming multiple influences into a unified, singular vision deeply rooted in the aesthetic questioning of his time, and his work finds echoes in the works of Antoine Bourdelle and Aristide Maillol.

His sculptures stand out as objects for reflection, transcending contingencies to achieve a timelessness that is both subtle and universal. 

His signature

Not all Séraphin Soudbinine's works are signed.

Although there are variations, here is a first example of its signature:

Appraising your property

If you own a work by Séraphin Soudbinine, please feel free to request a free appraisal by completing our online form.

A member of our team of experts and certified auctioneers will contact you to provide an estimate of the market value of your work.

If you are considering selling your work, our specialists will also guide you through the various alternatives available to obtain the best possible price, taking into account market trends and the specific features of each work.