Auguste Rodin

Musée Rodin, Paris
Bastier, Limoges (acquired circa 1950-60)
Private Collection, France (by descent from the above)
Acquired from the above in 2012

John L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, The Collection of the Rodin Museum Philadelphia, Philadelphia, 1976, illustration of another cast no. 119
Albert E. Elsen, In Rodin's Studio, A Photographic Record of Sculpture in the Making, Oxford & Paris, 1980, illustration of another cast nos. 65-70
Rodin en 1900, L'Exposition de l'Alma (exhibition catalogue), Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, 2001, no. 32, illustration of the plaster p. 119
Rodin et la photographie (exhibition catalogue), Paris, Musée Rodin, 2007-08, illustrations of another cast pp. 79 & 83
Bernhard Maaz, ed., Druet sieht Rodin, Photographie & Skulptur, Berlin, Staatliche Museen, 2005-06, illustrations of another cast pp. 15, 61 & 124
Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, Rodin et le bronze, catalogue des oeuvres conservées au Musée Rodin, vol. II, Paris, 2007, illustration of another cast p. 500

Dark brown patina with varied green highlights. Work is affixed to a black rectangular base at one point on underside. Some patina rubbing at the bottom of the hand an the top and underside of the wrist as well as on the knuckles. Some surface dirt in the deeper crevices, otherwise fine. This work is in very good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This remarkable cast of Rodin’s Main droite crispée, petit modèle is one the artist’s most iconic studies of the human hand. Emphasizing his keen observation of the human body, Rodin began to depict the hand in a series of meticulously rendered and anatomically precise sculptures during the 1880s and 1890s. The Symbolist poet Gustave Kahn, Rodin’s contemporary, made reference to the artist’s obsession with the understanding of human anatomy, physical strength and musculature, stating, “Rodin accumulates these studies of details; the cabinets in his studio are full of studies of parts, torsos, hands. He has investigated, with passion, the expressions of the human hand” (Gustave Kahn, Auguste Rodin, Cinquante-quatre illustrations teintées et deux gravures, Paris, 1906, p. 31). 

From antiquity to the end of the nineteenth century, and when not creating portrait busts, artists were expected to sculpt the complete human body in a more traditional rendition. True to fashion, Rodin focused instead on rendering every element constituting the human body in a distinctly radical approach. Each work and each element was to be understood as a work of art in its own right. Joan Vita Miller and Gary Marotta write, "Rodin was a pioneer in his promotion of the fragment as a complete, independent work of art. Rodin himself concentrated on hands and torsos, but arms, legs, and feet were also prominent among his partial figures (Rodin, The B. Gerald Cantor Collection (exhibition catalogue), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986, p. 131). Main droite crispée, petit modèle is a beautifully articulated work of bronze, highlighting the sculptural concerns that were of greatest import in the development of Rodin’s aesthetic.