Eve

Details

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
Eve
signed on the right side of the base 'Rodin'
bronze with dark brown patina
Height: 29½ in. (75 cm.)
Conceived in 1880-1881; this bronze version cast on April 3, 1890 by Griffoul et Lorge, the third cast recorded in the archives of the Musée Rodin

Provenance

Mrs. Auguste Chapuis, Paris (acquired from the artist on May 7, 1890)
By descent to the present owner

Literature

L. Benedite, Rodin, Paris, 1924, pp. 26-27 (another cast illustrated)
J. Cladel, Auguste Rodin, sa vie glorieuse, sa vie inconnue, Paris, 1936, pp. 142-143
G. Grappe, Catalogue du Musée Rodin, Paris, 1944, p. 28, no. 59 (another cast illustrated)
P.L. Grigau, "Rodin's Eve," Bulletin of the Detroit Institute, 1953-1954, pp. 14-16 (another cast illustrated, p. 15) A.E. Elsen, Rodin, New York, 1963, p. 164 (illustrated) B. Champigneulle, Rodin, London, 1967, p. 71 (another cast illustrated, pl. 23)
R. Descharnes and J.-F. Chabrun, Auguste Rodin, Paris, 1967, p. 99 (larger version illustrated in color)
I. Jianou and C. Goldscheider, Auguste Rodin, Paris, 1967, p. 89 (plaster cast illustrated, pl. 17)
L. Goldscheider, Rodin Sculptures, London, 1970, no. 22 (another cast illustrated)
J.L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia, 1976, pp. 148-157, no. 8-5 (another cast illustrated, p. 154)
J. de Caso and P.B. Sanders, Rodin's Sculpture, San Francisco, 1977, p. 143 (another cast illustrated)
M. Hanotelle, Paris/Bruxelles, Rodin et Meunier, Paris, 1982, pp. 59 and 202
A.E. Elsen, The Gates of Hell by Auguste Rodin, Stanford, 1985, pp. 74-78, no. 64 (another cast illustrated)
N. Barbier, Marbres de Rodin: Collection du Musée, Paris, 1987, p. 198, no. 85 (marble version illustrated, p. 199)
A. Beausire, Quand Rodin exposait, Dijon, 1988, pp. 82, 95 and 315 (terracotta version illustrated, p. 84)
D. Finn and M. Busco, Rodin and his Contemporaries: The Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Collection, New York, 1991, p. 42 (marble version illustrated in color, p. 43 and on the cover)

Lot Essay

Rodin originally conceived Eve in 1881 as the companion to Adam, intending the tragic couple to flank the portal of his celebrated La porte de l'Enfer. Both figures are captured as the horror of their actions dawn upon them: Adam's body is twisted in anguish, his right hand held away from his body, while Eve recoils, her arms raised to her head as she hides herself in shame.

Rodin's inspiration for the figure of Eve came directly from Michelangelo's work at the Sistine Chapel in Rome:

Rodin admired the Adam and Eve of the Creation of Man and the Fall in the Sistine Chapel because they combined the beauty of the ancient Greek nude with the medieval Christian consciousness of sin. Accepting Michelangelo's postures, with variations, Rodin chose both from his predecessor's painting and his sculpture... Rodin's figures impart a greater sense of self-sufficiency and inner-listening than do their prototypes. (A.E. Elsen, op. cit., 1963, p. 49)