AUGUSTE RODIN | Étude de main gauche dite Main n°39

Musée Rodin, Paris
M. Salgo, USA (acquired from the above)
Private Collection, New York
Sale: Bonhams, New York, 17th May 2017, lot 27
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Exposition Rodin au Japon (exhibition catalogue), Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo (& travelling in Japan), 1976-77, no. 86, illustration of another cast in the catalogue n.p.
Rodin, Les Mains, les chirurgiens (exhibition catalogue), Paris, 1983, no. 7, illustration of another cast p. 33
Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, The Bronzes of Rodin, Catalogue of Works in the Musée Rodin, Paris, 2007, vol. II, no. S.500, illustrations of another cast p. 498

This work is in good overall condition. The bronze is sound with a deep brown patina. A close inspection reveals a spot of verdigris between the small finger and the ring finger and there is a tiny amount of plaster residue on the index finger. There are some minor nicks and handling marks in places, notably a small spot of patina loss to the knuckle beneath the third finger and some further small spots of patina loss on the second finger.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Auguste Rodin is hailed as the father of Modern sculpture and his works feature in the most important public and private institutions worldwide. The human body was Rodin’s preoccupation throughout his working life and he habitually observed real models to create anatomically accurate as well as emotionally intense sculptures. Like other sculptors, Rodin was trained to work in studies and partial figures, however unlike other sculptors Rodin in the mid-1880s came to recognise that ‘a part’ could be as expressive as a whole; in a pioneering move he began to exhibit these so-called ‘fragments’ as self-sufficient works of art. The most important among these are his models of hands. For Rodin, the hand was a crucial vehicle for expression – being the embodiment of ‘the gesture’. The artist’s direct and unrelenting scrutiny of hand gestures resulted in a series of models that are not only biologically incisive but also charged with astonishing expressive power. In 2014, The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University held a ground-breaking exhibition entitled Inside Rodin’s Hands: Art, Technology and Surgery. Building upon one professor’s practice of presenting Rodin’s hands to medical students and surgery trainees, the exhibition merged art and science, even enabling students to perform virtual surgery on the bronze hands in a feat of augmented reality. Dr Chang of Stanford University observed: ‘I have found that artists and surgeons appreciate human anatomy with equal passion.’

This work will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Critique de l'œuvre sculpté d'Auguste Rodin being prepared by Galerie Brame & Lorenceau under the direction of Jérôme Le Blay under the archive number 2017-5267B.