Auguste RODIN (1840-1917) - Lot 43

Auguste RODIN (1840-1917) Balzac, nude study C, small model Proof in bronze with a greenish-brown patina, signed Alexis Rudier, foundryman, bears the A. Rodin relief. Rodin and numbered 204 under the base. (Patina damage). Height: 75.4 cm Created circa 1892-1893 and cast between 1918 and 1926. Provenance : - Galerie Danthon, Paris, one of three cast between 1918 and 1926 - Sale, Collection of Madame J. Danthon, Me Alphonse Bellier commissaire-priseur and André Schoeller, expert, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 24, 1933, catalog no. 52, withdrawn before sale. - Sale of Modern Paintings, watercolors, pastels, drawings, lithographs, sculptures, belonging to Mademoiselle X... (Juliette Danthon), Me Alphonse Bellier auctioneer and André Schoeller, expert, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 15, 1935, catalog no. 125. - Docteur Jean Girou (1889-1972) (acquired by M. Bergaud on Girou's behalf, at the above-mentioned sale). - By descent to the present owners. Exhibitions : - Balzac et Rodin, Musée Rodin, Paris, June 23 - September 1950, a similar copy under N°26 of the exhibition. - Auguste Rodin. Travelling exhibition, Ateneum, Helsinki, Museum of Fine Arts, Turku, Museum of Fine Arts, Tampere and Vaasa Museum, September 10 - December 22, 1965, a similar copy under exhibition no. 25. - Rodin: sculptures and drawings, Hayward Gallery, London, January 24 - April 5, a similar copy under exhibition no. 55. - Auguste Rodin, Umjetnicki Paviljion, Zagreb, July 3 - August 25, 1968, a similar copy under exhibition no. 37. - Hommage à Auguste Rodin, Centre Artistique et Littéraire, Rochechouart, April 18 - May 18, 1970, a similar copy. - Medardo Rosso, Palazzo della Permanente, Milan, December 1978 - January 1979, a similar copy under exhibition no. 186. - Auguste Rodin (1840 - 1917), Skulpturen Zeichnungen. Eine Ausstellung des Musées Rodin, Paris, und Collectors Club, Wien, Orangerie, Palais Auersperg, Vienna, September 11 - October 26, 1980, a similar copy under exhibition no. 26. - Le Balzac de Rodin, Musée Rodin, Paris, June 16 - September 13 1998, a similar copy under exhibition no. 40. - ArchiSKULTPUR, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, October 3, 2004 - January 30, 2005, a similar copy under exhibition no. 159. Bibliography: - Le Vrai Rodin by Gustave Coquiot, Éditions Jules Tallandier, Paris, 1913, chapter on Balzac pages 141 to 152. - Zola et la statue de Balzac, in: Bulletin de la Société Littéraire des Amis d'Émile Zola, Paris, no. 2, January 1, 1923. - Catalog du Musée Rodin, by Georges Grappe, Paris, 1927, a similar example, described and reproduced on page 73 as n°189. - Jean Girou collectionneur d'Art moderne by Paul Santenac, In: Septimanie, Revue d'Art, Avril -Septembre 1942, this bronze is mentioned on page 22. - Auguste Rodin by Robert Descharnes and Jean-François Chabrun, Edita Lausanne, La Bibliothèque des Arts, 1967, chapter devoted to the Balzac, pages 164 to 175, a similar example described and reproduced on page 169. - Rodin by Lionel Jianou and Cécile Goldscheider, Paris, 1967, a similar copy, page 107. - The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, by J.L. Tancock, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1976, chapter devoted to Balzac, pages 425 to 459, a plaster cast, small model, described and reproduced under no. 73 on pages 425 and 427. - Rodin et le bronze, catalog des œuvres conservées au Musée Rodin, by Antoinette Lenormand Romain, Paris, RMN, 2007, vol. 1, a similar example is reproduced on page 165. Expert : Agnès SEVESTRE-BARBE