Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

Property from the JULES MASTBAUM FAMILY COLLECTION

Details

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

Tête de Hanako

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 green patina
Height: 6 5/8in. (17cm.)

Original plaster version executed in 1908; this bronze version cast
in 1926

Provenance

Musée Rodin, Paris (acquired by Jules Mastbaum, 1926)

Literature

G. Grappe, Catalogue du Musée Rodin, Paris, 1927, no. 281 (plaster version illustrated, p. 97)
A. E. Elsen, Rodin, New York, 1963, pp. 118-120 (another bronze version illustrated, p. 119)
J. L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia, 1976, pp. 546-548, no. 97 (plaster version illustrated, p. 547)

Lot Essay

Rodin grew interested in Far Eastern dance after seeing performances of the King of Cambodia's royal ballet troupe in Paris in 1906. The American veil dancer Loïe Fuller later introduced Rodin to the Japanese dancer Hanako (Ota Hisa, 1868-1945). Rodin was impressed with the intensity of emotion, self-discipline and great inner strength he saw in her features. In a manner consistent with the unorthodox associative processes which guided the sculptor's exploration of new subjects, Rodin at one time considered using a study of Hanako as the starting-point for a portrait of Beethoven.