Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

Torse féminin assis or Torse Morhardt, grand modèle

Details
Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
Torse féminin assis or Torse Morhardt, grand modèle
signed 'A. Rodin' (on the right leg); inscribed with foundry mark '.ALEXIS RUDIER. .FONDEUR.PARIS.' (on the back of the left leg)
bronze with brown and green patina
Height: 15 in. (38.1 cm.)
Conceived circa 1895; this bronze version cast circa 1945
Provenance
Musée Rodin, Paris.
Literature
J.L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia, 1976, p. 292, no. 46-7 (smaller plaster version illustrated, p. 293; titled Torso of a Woman Clasping Her Left Leg).
A. Le Normand-Romain, The Bronzes of Rodin, Catalogue of Works in the Musée Rodin, Paris, 2007, vol. II, p. 685, no. S. 521 (another cast illustrated; titled Torse féminin assis dit torse morhardt).

Lot Essay

This sculpture will be included in the forthcoming Auguste Rodin catalogue critique de l'oeuvre sculpté currently being prepared by the Comité Rodin at Galerie Brame et Lorenceau under the direction of Jérôme Le Blay under the archive number 2009-2500B.

Torse féminin assis initially took the name Torse Morhardt after its first owner, Matias Morhardt. Morhardt was a journalist and critic from Geneva, who was a staunch admirer of the sculptor and who stood up for Rodin when he was criticized for giving his Muse tragique to the city of Geneva.

The Alexis Rudier foundry created five casts of this work, including the present lot, between 1945 and 1951 at the request of the Musée Rodin. Between 1955 and 1958, nine additional casts were made and numbered by Georges Rudier foundry.

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