AUGUSTE RODIN (1840-1917) - Lot 1

Lot n° 1
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Résultat : 127 400EUR
AUGUSTE RODIN (1840-1917) - Lot 1
AUGUSTE RODIN (1840-1917) Balzac (head), penultimate state also known as Variante S 1652, the model designed in [1897]. Sculpture. Proof in bronze with brown-black patina shaded with antique green in places. Most probably sand-cast by Auguste Griffoul between 1897 and 1903. Ante mortem edition. Signed A. RODIN on the base at the back. 19.4x18.5x18.2cm Important notice: This work will be included under number 2025-7326B in the Catalogue critique de l'œuvre sculpté d'Auguste Rodin currently being prepared by Galerie Brame & Lorenceau under the direction of Jérôme le Blay. Provenance: Private collection, France. According to oral tradition, this work belonged to Sarah Bernhardt. Please note: A bronze proof of Balzac (head), penultimate state, was in the collections of Sacha Guitry (Cf. Collection Sacha Guitry - Souvenirs historiques, littéraires et de théâtre - Vente Me Ader, Gare d'Orsay, 17 février 1977). Public collections and related works: - Pembrok College, Oxford, England - A bronze proof of Balzac (head), penultimate state (or slight variant) preserved in the collections of this institution. - Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, USA - A bronze print of Balzac (head), penultimate state (variant: larger lock curved forward behind left ear) in the collections of this institution. - Fog Art Museum, Cambridge, England - A bronze proof of Balzac (head), penultimate state (variant: larger lock curved forward, behind left ear) in the collections of this institution. - National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden - A bronze proof of Balzac (head), penultimate state (variant: larger lock curved forward, behind left ear) in the collections of this institution. - Pembrok College, Oxford, England - A bronze proof of Balzac (head), penultimate state (or slight variant) preserved in the collections of this institution. - Institute of Art, Detroit, USA - A bronze proof of Balzac (head), penultimate state (variant: larger lock curved forward behind left ear) in the collections of this institution. - California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, USA - A plaster print of Balzac (head), penultimate state (variant S. 1655 with larger lock of hair behind) in the collections of this institution. - Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina - A plaster print of Balzac (head), penultimate state (variant S. 1655 with a larger lock of hair at the back) preserved in the collections of this institution. Bibliography: - Antoinette Le Normand-Romain - Rodin et le bronze; catalog des œuvres conservées au musée Rodin, tome 1 - Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, Paris, 1987. A bronze proof of Balzac (head), penultimate state, also known as variant S 1652, described and reproduced on page 178 (fig. 9). Notes by Jérôme le Blay: This work represents the penultimate stage in the long development of the portrait of Balzac, from Rodin's earliest studies based on iconographic documents of the period, such as Nadar's 1891 daguerreotype of Balzac, to the final monument of 1898. The title variant S 1652 refers to the plaster cast of this version, inventoried in the collections of the Musée Rodin under n°Inv. MR S. 1652. The final version of the portrait of Balzac was a great success from the moment the monument was exhibited at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1898, and was published by both Rodin and the Musée Rodin. As the Monument à Balzac was not cast in bronze until 1930, the last version of the portrait became a symbol of the sculptor's fierce battle against the taste of his time, and was multiplied by Rodin. Nevertheless, the penultimate version was also produced in bronze as soon as Rodin had created it, and was sometimes offered as a substitute for the now famous final study. It is currently impossible to determine the number of proofs made of this version, due to the use of the generic title "tête de Balzac" on the founders' invoices, but we count at least eleven proofs of this version executed between 1897 and 1909 for Auguste Rodin. To our knowledge, only one posthumous casting of this version was made by the Alexis Rudier foundry for the Rodin Museum in 1931 (now the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C. - Inv. 66-4336). It is worth noting that the Musée Rodin, which until now had no bronze proof of this work, is the only museum in the world to have had this work.
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