Femme accroupie

細節

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
Femme accroupie
signed 'A. Rodin' (on the base); dated and inscribed with the foundry mark '© by Musée Rodin 1955 Georges Rudier Fondeur Paris' (on the back of the base); with the raised signature 'A. Rodin' (inside the base)
bronze with brown and green patina
Height: 12½in. (31.8cm.)
Conceived in 1880-82, this bronze version cast in 1955

來源

Roland, Browse & Delbanco, London.
Acquired from the above by the previous owner circa 1961.
A gift from the above to the present owner.

出版

L. Bénédite, Rodin, London 1924, pl. XX (larger cast illustrated).
D. Sutton, Triumphant Satyr, The World of Auguste Rodin, London 1966, fig. 20 (another cast illustrated).
R. Descharnes & J.F. Chabrun, Auguste Rodin, Paris 1967, p. 93 (terracotta version and larger cast illustrated).
I. Jianou & C. Goldscheider, Rodin, Paris 1967, p. 89 (another cast illustrated pl. 22).
A.E. Elsen, Rodin, London 1974, pp. 58-59 (terracotta version and larger cast illustrated).
J.L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia 1976, pp. 136-140 (terracotta version and two other bronze casts illustrated figs. 6, 6-1, 6-2 and 6-4).

注意事項

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

拍品專文

Originally conceived in 1880-82 for the tympanum of the Gates of Hell, where she is cradled in the arms of L'homme qui tombe, as well as crouching in slightly varied form to the left of Le penseur, Femme accroupie belongs to the group of major early works inspired by Michelangelo, whose sculpture so affected Rodin when he first visited Italy in 1875. 'One of Rodin's most daring and expressive figures, The Crouching Woman is remarkable for the complexity and compactness of the pose. Created at the same time as those works...in which the influence of Michelangelo is most pronounced, it seems probable that in this work Rodin tried to emulate yet another aspect of Michelangelo's style' (J.L. Tancock, op. cit., p. 136).

The model for Femme accroupie was most probably Adèle, who posed for Rodin over a period of four years. Later, the head of the work was detached from its resting place on the figure's right knee and exhibited as an independent sculpture known as Head of lust. According to Georges Grappe, Rodin further modified the original form to create a caryatid figure which he considered using for a fountain. Other casts of Femme accroupie of this size are in the collections of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyons, the Queensland Art Gallery, Australia and the Hirshhorn Museum and the Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C.

Although she has an essentially inward and closed form, Rodin imbues Femme accroupie with a refined contrapposto which is superbly animated by the interplay of light on her graceful figure. A daring and complex pose and a highly expressive figure, Femme accroupie is one of Rodin's most dynamic works.