拍品专文
"In Le Sommeil the seeming fusion of the figure and its atmosphere and, simultaneously, the inseparability of the figure from its base, are exploited by Rodin to evoke this woman's mental drift. The composite plaster model predetermined the subject's outward gesture of sleep. The internal sensations of withdrawal, weightlessness, and self-absorption, however, are uniquely conveyed in the marble - its transparency, limpidity, and brilliance, its cohesion and compactness, are qualities lacking in the original plaster" (D. Rosenfeld, op. cit.).
Rosenfeld further stresses the importance of the medium of marble to the beauty of Le Sommeil: "Rodin need not have been swayed by...prevailing good taste to have found in marble a substance well-suited to his original artistic concerns. The bright crystalline quality of marble, its translucence, its softness to the touch and to the eye, its ability to carry transitions between tones in soft gradations without harsh shadows suited perfectly Rodin's concern with the vital simulation of human flesh" (ibid.).
Rodin inscribed and gave the present work to his muse the Duchesse Claire de Choiseul, who was the artist's mistress from around 1909 to the autumn of 1912. Born Clair Courdet in 1864, she married the eighth Marquess of Choiseul-Beaupré in 1891. "For Rodin, she was a woman who brought a breath of fresh air into the increasingly stuffy atmosphere of a studio filled with sycophants. She had a sense of humour and loved elaborate practical jokes...She showered him with baisers and told him he was mon idole; 'I re-live the blessed hours when all my happiness was to be at your side and loving you'" (F. V. Grunfeld, Rodin, a Biography, London, 1987, pp. 485 and 488).
The present work is one of three marble versions of Le Sommeil. One is housed in the Musée Rodin, Paris and was carved in 1916. The other, in a private collection in America, is carved in rose marble and is also dedicated to the Duchesse de Choiseul. The existence of two works inscribed to the Duchesse is explained in a letter now in the Musée Rodin archives written by Rodin to Victor Peter on 8 November 1912. Peter indicates that Rodin was not entirely happy with the first version of Le Sommeil, resulting in the present work being carved. It was this work which Rodin chose to give to his mistress.
Rosenfeld further stresses the importance of the medium of marble to the beauty of Le Sommeil: "Rodin need not have been swayed by...prevailing good taste to have found in marble a substance well-suited to his original artistic concerns. The bright crystalline quality of marble, its translucence, its softness to the touch and to the eye, its ability to carry transitions between tones in soft gradations without harsh shadows suited perfectly Rodin's concern with the vital simulation of human flesh" (ibid.).
Rodin inscribed and gave the present work to his muse the Duchesse Claire de Choiseul, who was the artist's mistress from around 1909 to the autumn of 1912. Born Clair Courdet in 1864, she married the eighth Marquess of Choiseul-Beaupré in 1891. "For Rodin, she was a woman who brought a breath of fresh air into the increasingly stuffy atmosphere of a studio filled with sycophants. She had a sense of humour and loved elaborate practical jokes...She showered him with baisers and told him he was mon idole; 'I re-live the blessed hours when all my happiness was to be at your side and loving you'" (F. V. Grunfeld, Rodin, a Biography, London, 1987, pp. 485 and 488).
The present work is one of three marble versions of Le Sommeil. One is housed in the Musée Rodin, Paris and was carved in 1916. The other, in a private collection in America, is carved in rose marble and is also dedicated to the Duchesse de Choiseul. The existence of two works inscribed to the Duchesse is explained in a letter now in the Musée Rodin archives written by Rodin to Victor Peter on 8 November 1912. Peter indicates that Rodin was not entirely happy with the first version of Le Sommeil, resulting in the present work being carved. It was this work which Rodin chose to give to his mistress.