Born in Damville, France, in 1876, Duchamp-Villon began by studying medicine, which he gave up for sculpture in 1900. Even though self-taught as an artist, by the following year he was admitted to the Salon of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts.The influence of Rodin was unmistakable in his early work, and his own innovations toward more abstractculptural form grew gradually and steadily from these roots.

By 1912... Duchamp-Villon's interpretation of the figure into strong, solid volumes had moved far in the direction of pure abstraction, animated by the contrast of convex and concave forms, as well as the baroque flow of rolling masses. His inclusion in the famed Armory Show of 1913, which introduced modern art to the United States, is indicative of his avant-garde position at the time.

In the "Horse's Head" of 1914, this position as one of the most inventive artists of his time becomes clear. The appearance of natural form has here yielded to a unified system of man-made form. Strength and energy in this flowing bronze shape stem not from the transcription of nature, but from the resources of man's artistic invention. Like the more romantic sculpture of Rodin, there is drama in this work, but it is instead the drama of a creative human spirit; the imposition of power of the hand, molding substance into a self-contained symbol of strength.  Source: Bulletin, September 1967.