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Lot Essay
At the fierce debate over Rodin's early work the Age of Bronze at the 1877 Salon, Rodin was accused of "moulage sur nature" because the figure was perceived as imitating a real human body, and thus was too close to reality. In response, he exaggerated or reduced the size of his casts often over-emphasizing parts of the human body in the tradition of Michelangelo.
Although successful with art critics and influential political figures, few private collectors actually purchased from Rodin before his famous exhibition at the Palais de l'Alma in 1900. It was only at the urging of friends and collectors that he began to cast his work on a smaller scale. Not only were these smaller casts more affordable and highly desirable, they faithfully retained the features of the larger model. Rodin first employed the talents of the highly skilled "réducteur-agrandisseur" Henri Lebossé, who reduced and enlarged a number of works for Rodin. It was after the great success of the large marble version of The Kiss at the 1898 Salon that Rodin decided to create four different reductions of the work. The same year he signed an exclusive contract with the foundry firm of Leblanc-Barbedienne to create these reductions, retaining the rights to cast the original size version himself.
Incredibly, Rodin worked with twenty-eight different founders during his career. Although the identity of the founder of the present cast has yet to be determined, it is one of approximately ten casts executed before 1898, the year that Rodin signed the contract with Barbedienne. Cast during the artist's lifetime, it stands as one of the most accomplished examples of this composition.
While most founders used the 'sand-cast' method, the present work is a 'lost-wax cast.' Unlike the sand-casting method which permitted the re-casting of separate parts which could be attached later, the more traditional lost-wax method demanded that the work be cast as an entire piece, a process which tolerated no mistakes or later corrections. The expense and the labor involved in this method of casting led Rodin to finally abandon this technique, thus making this work extremely rare. Further, details can be lost with the reduction of a larger cast to a smaller scale, yet the present cast displays a sharpness in the details and crispness in the carving of the base. The sculpture never once loses its expressiveness and intensity, due in large part to the precise and true results a wax mold assures. Thus, on closer examination, it is notable that the lovers' lips do not meet and the man's left hand hovers above her thigh, as with the large première épreuve cast of 1887-1888 (see lot 26).
Although successful with art critics and influential political figures, few private collectors actually purchased from Rodin before his famous exhibition at the Palais de l'Alma in 1900. It was only at the urging of friends and collectors that he began to cast his work on a smaller scale. Not only were these smaller casts more affordable and highly desirable, they faithfully retained the features of the larger model. Rodin first employed the talents of the highly skilled "réducteur-agrandisseur" Henri Lebossé, who reduced and enlarged a number of works for Rodin. It was after the great success of the large marble version of The Kiss at the 1898 Salon that Rodin decided to create four different reductions of the work. The same year he signed an exclusive contract with the foundry firm of Leblanc-Barbedienne to create these reductions, retaining the rights to cast the original size version himself.
Incredibly, Rodin worked with twenty-eight different founders during his career. Although the identity of the founder of the present cast has yet to be determined, it is one of approximately ten casts executed before 1898, the year that Rodin signed the contract with Barbedienne. Cast during the artist's lifetime, it stands as one of the most accomplished examples of this composition.
While most founders used the 'sand-cast' method, the present work is a 'lost-wax cast.' Unlike the sand-casting method which permitted the re-casting of separate parts which could be attached later, the more traditional lost-wax method demanded that the work be cast as an entire piece, a process which tolerated no mistakes or later corrections. The expense and the labor involved in this method of casting led Rodin to finally abandon this technique, thus making this work extremely rare. Further, details can be lost with the reduction of a larger cast to a smaller scale, yet the present cast displays a sharpness in the details and crispness in the carving of the base. The sculpture never once loses its expressiveness and intensity, due in large part to the precise and true results a wax mold assures. Thus, on closer examination, it is notable that the lovers' lips do not meet and the man's left hand hovers above her thigh, as with the large première épreuve cast of 1887-1888 (see lot 26).