Lot 20
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20
Auguste Rodin
L'Éternel printemps, 1884/1898.
Bronze with black-brown patina
Estimate:
€ 80,000 / $ 88,000 Sold:
€ 279,400 / $ 307,340 (incl. surcharge)
L'Éternel printemps. 1884/1898.
Bronze with black-brown patina.
With the signature in rear right. Lower left with the foundry mark "F BARBEDIENNE Fondeur". Lower margin of stand inscribed "P", inside numbered and inscribed "VL 55", in India ink with the foundry's sales number "74349 gsi 380" from May 9, 1910. Second état, 4ème réduction. From an edition of 69 copies. 24 x 31.5 x 19 cm (9.4 x 12.4 x 7.4 in).
Lifetime cast from 1910. First draft in 1884, modeled in 1898, reduced models made between 1898-1918. Cast by Fonderie Barbédienne, Paris.
• Rodin's lovers are icons of modern sculpture.
• Created during his passionate relationship with the sculptress Camille Claudel.
• One of the figure groups that Rodin developed from his centennial achievement "Porte de l'enfer".
• In addition to the famous "Kiss" and the "Thinker", "Eternal Springtime" is one of Rodin's best-known and most popular works.
• With his powerful and sensitive works, Rodin is considered one of the most outstanding sculptors in art history.
• Marble versions are in the Musée Rodin, Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Hermitage, Saint Petersburg; Bronze versions in international collections such as LACMA, Los Angeles and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Accompanied by a certificate issued by the Comité Auguste Rodin, Paris, from October 30, 2010. The work will be included into the Catalogue critique de l'œuvre sculpté d'Auguste Rodin, edited by Jérôme Le Blay, with the number 2010-3301B.
PROVENANCE:
Private collection Switzerland (acquired around 1970).
Private collection Switzerland.
Private collection Berlin (acquired in 2011, Sotheby's, February 9, 2011).
LITERATURE:
Ionel Jianou, Cécile Goldschneider, Rodin, Paris 1967 (plates 56-57, different copy).
John L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia 1976, no. 32b, p. 243 (with illu., different copy).
Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, The Bronzes of Rodin, Catalogue of works in the Musée Rodin, Paris 2007, p. 334 (with illu., different copy).
Sotheby's London, auction on February 9, 2011, lot 122 (with illu.).
"The real artist must express the whole truth of nature, not only that of the outside, but above all that of the inside. When a good sculptor models a human torso, he depicts not only the muscles, but the life that moves them.. more than life.. the force that shapes them and gives them grace or strength, gracious charm or impetuous vigor.[.] What we admire about the human body, even more than its beautiful shape, is the inner flame that seems to make it glow."
Auguste Rodin, L'Art, entretiens réunis par Paul Gsell, Paris 1911, pp. 156, 237.
Bronze with black-brown patina.
With the signature in rear right. Lower left with the foundry mark "F BARBEDIENNE Fondeur". Lower margin of stand inscribed "P", inside numbered and inscribed "VL 55", in India ink with the foundry's sales number "74349 gsi 380" from May 9, 1910. Second état, 4ème réduction. From an edition of 69 copies. 24 x 31.5 x 19 cm (9.4 x 12.4 x 7.4 in).
Lifetime cast from 1910. First draft in 1884, modeled in 1898, reduced models made between 1898-1918. Cast by Fonderie Barbédienne, Paris.
• Rodin's lovers are icons of modern sculpture.
• Created during his passionate relationship with the sculptress Camille Claudel.
• One of the figure groups that Rodin developed from his centennial achievement "Porte de l'enfer".
• In addition to the famous "Kiss" and the "Thinker", "Eternal Springtime" is one of Rodin's best-known and most popular works.
• With his powerful and sensitive works, Rodin is considered one of the most outstanding sculptors in art history.
• Marble versions are in the Musée Rodin, Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Hermitage, Saint Petersburg; Bronze versions in international collections such as LACMA, Los Angeles and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Accompanied by a certificate issued by the Comité Auguste Rodin, Paris, from October 30, 2010. The work will be included into the Catalogue critique de l'œuvre sculpté d'Auguste Rodin, edited by Jérôme Le Blay, with the number 2010-3301B.
PROVENANCE:
Private collection Switzerland (acquired around 1970).
Private collection Switzerland.
Private collection Berlin (acquired in 2011, Sotheby's, February 9, 2011).
LITERATURE:
Ionel Jianou, Cécile Goldschneider, Rodin, Paris 1967 (plates 56-57, different copy).
John L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia 1976, no. 32b, p. 243 (with illu., different copy).
Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, The Bronzes of Rodin, Catalogue of works in the Musée Rodin, Paris 2007, p. 334 (with illu., different copy).
Sotheby's London, auction on February 9, 2011, lot 122 (with illu.).
"The real artist must express the whole truth of nature, not only that of the outside, but above all that of the inside. When a good sculptor models a human torso, he depicts not only the muscles, but the life that moves them.. more than life.. the force that shapes them and gives them grace or strength, gracious charm or impetuous vigor.[.] What we admire about the human body, even more than its beautiful shape, is the inner flame that seems to make it glow."
Auguste Rodin, L'Art, entretiens réunis par Paul Gsell, Paris 1911, pp. 156, 237.
The intertwined, devoted lovers doubtlessly count among the greatest masterpieces in Auguste Rodin's oeuvre. Their creation includes references to art and literature, as well as autobiographical aspects. In 1880, the French state commissioned Rodin to design the gate for the future Musée des arts décoratifs. As "Porte de l'enfer" (The Gates of Hell) it would become an epochal work formative for his sculptural work. Although it never was completed, the study of the literary source, Dante's Inferno from the "Divine Comedy", provided an inexhaustible repertoire of figures, forms and motifs. His fascination with the longings, desires and passions described in the Circles of Hell, which explore human existence in all its depth and tragedy, lasted until the end of his life. Love and passion play a central role, especially in their physical form. The lovers Paolo and Francesca, united in a kiss, caught in adultery and stabbed by the jealous husband, appear in Dante and also in Rodin as shadowy bodies blown about by the wind. With their central position in The Gates of Hell, the two are one of the most touching groups. In 1883, Rodin met the highly talented sculptress Camille Claudel, who first entered his studio as a student and then as an artistic assistant. The two soon had an amour fou, notwithstanding that Rodin was a married man. In the 1880s, Rodin was occupied with all the nuances of love. Questions regarding sensual intimacy, adoration, fleetingness and abandonment inspired him to great works like "Le Baiser" (originally also "Francesca da Rimini"), "Éternelle idole" or "Fugit amor". "L'Éternel printemps", eternal springtime, shows the moment of the devoted kiss in the flowing forms so typical of Rodin, in which the motion’s coming and going seem to be captured in an impressionistic instantaneousness. As an artistic position, the coalescence with the stone refers to Michelangelo's Non-finito, while the tender touch cites Antonio Canova's famous group “Amor and Psyche” at the Louvre. He also integrates the curved female body modeled on his favorite sitter Adèle Abruzzesi, whom he admired for her slender and flexible physicality, in the upper left corner of the tympanum in the "Porte de l'Enfer". He had already modeled her torso in clay in 1882, a material that he favored most because of its softness and elasticity. The sculptures were also executed in plaster, marble and bronze, in which the sensuality of Rodin's work becomes particularly evident in the play of light and shadow, the lively patina and the smooth surface. As if to keep the erotic appeal somewhat more in line with public taste, "L'Éternel printemps" was exhibited for the first time at the Paris Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux Arts under the mythological title "Amour et Psyche" in 1897. Due to the enormous success of the motif - one of the best known and most popular works alongside the "Kiss" and the "Thinker" - Rodin closed an exclusive contract for the production of bronze casts of "Eternal Springtime" with the renowned Fonderie Barbédienne, which had won several awards for its production methods in major industrial shows. [KT]
20
Auguste Rodin
L'Éternel printemps, 1884/1898.
Bronze with black-brown patina
Estimate:
€ 80,000 / $ 88,000 Sold:
€ 279,400 / $ 307,340 (incl. surcharge)