Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

La Défense (Tête)

Details

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
La Défense (Tête)
signed 'A. Rodin' (on the right side), inscribed with foundry mark 'Georges Rudier. Fondeur Paris.' (on the left side), dated '© by Musée Rodin. 1965.' (along the right edge); with raised signature 'A.Rodin' (on the inside)
bronze with brown and green patina
Height: 6 in. (15.2 cm.)
Conceived in 1878; this bronze version cast in 1965

Literature

R. Descharnes and J.-F. Chabrun, Auguste Rodin, Lausanne, 1967, pp. 57-59 (plaster version illustrated, p. 59).
A. Elsen, Rodin, New York, 1963, pp.67-68 (small version illustrated, p. 68).
G. Grappe, Catalogue du Museée Rodin, Paris, 1947, no. 36 (small version illustrated).
I. Jianou and C. Goldscheider, Rodin, Paris, 1967, p. 86, (monumental version illustrated, pl. 37.)
J.L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia, 1976, pp. 370-375, no. 66 (monumental version illustrated, p. 371).

Lot Essay

This head of a winged spirit is one of two figures that Rodin created for a monument to commemorate his countrymen who fought in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. In the full-version the winged figure lifts a wounded soldier after he has risen to the call to defend his country. Rodin submitted The Call to Arms to the City of Paris for a competition in 1879, but he would lose the commission to Louis-Ernest Barrias.

Rodin did not abandon the subject, and in December 1916 a group of Dutchmen commissioned the work to commemorate the Battle of Verdun, a brutal event of World War I.

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