Lot 152
152
Property from the JULES MASTBAUM FAMILY COLLECTION
Property from the

Details
Property from the
JULES MASTBAUM FAMILY COLLECTION

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

Tête de rieur

signed on the right side of the neck 'A. Rodin', inscribed with foundry mark on the back of the neck 'Alexis Rudier Fondeur. Paris.'--with raised signature inside 'A. Rodin'--bronze with brown patina
Height: 6 1/8in. (15.6cm.)

Original version executed in 1889; this bronze version cast in 1925
Provenance
Musée Rodin, Paris (acquired by Jules Mastbaum, 1925)
Literature
G. Grappe, Catalogue du Musée Rodin, Paris, 1927, no. 235 (another cast illustrated, p. 86)
J. L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia, 1976, pp. 606-609, no. 114 (another cast illustrated, p. 609)

Lot Essay

Rodin had intended to include Tête de rieur in the frieze of The Gates of Hell and he originally titled it Infant Faun. The comic expression in Tête de rieur is virtually unique in Rodin's work, although his Duchess of Choiseul, 1908, exhibits an exuberant sense of joy. Perhaps because this head did not fit the overall mood of The Gates of Hell, Rodin eventually decided not to incorporate it within the frieze.