Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) - Lot 70

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) Balzac, final study for the head Model created in 1897; our proof probably cast by Griffoul between October 1898 and January 1899 Bronze with brown patina Signed "A. Rodin" in the hair on the left H. 17.5 cm, on a Plexiglas base H. 10 cm Provenance: Private collection, France In an article published in Le Figaro on December 6, 1880, Émile Zola protested against a subscription launched to build a statue in honor of Alexandre Dumas père, when nothing had yet been done to glorify the memory of Honoré de Balzac. "I will give a hundred francs for the statue of Dumas père when I would have given a thousand francs for the statue of Balzac", Zola tells us. The idea caught on, and Zola, elected president of the influential Société des gens de lettres in 1891, succeeded in getting the project approved. Initially, the sculptor Henri Chapu (1833-1891) was appointed and presented the committee with a model of the future monument. The sketch, showing the great writer seated, a female allegory of Truth holding up a mirror in which he symbolically watches Life pass by, met with consensus. But Chapu died that same year, 1891, without being able to complete his project. Zola, who had never appreciated Chapu's overly conventional, academic idea, used all his influence to ensure that Rodin was entrusted with the illustrious monument. Although we don't know the precise context of the meeting between Rodin and the writer, we can assume that Zola knew him, or at least followed his career, during the great sculptor's difficult early years. In L'Oeuvre, the fourteenth volume of the Rougon-Macquart series, published in 1886, Zola portrays a penniless sculptor in the guise of the character Mahoudeau, who may well have been inspired by Rodin. Be that as it may, the two geniuses seem to have formed a strong and loyal friendship, which is reflected in the extensive correspondence they maintained throughout what became known as the "Balzac affair". By 1891, Rodin had achieved recognition for his art. The sculptor embarked on this new project with ardor and enthusiasm. He reread Balzac's entire oeuvre, immersing himself in the character and studying the portraits painted by contemporaries of the author of La Comédie Humaine. He travelled to Balzac's native Touraine in the hope of finding a model who matched the portrait painted by his friend Lamartine: "He was fat, thick, square at the base and shoulders; neck, chest, body, thighs, powerful limbs [...]; but no heaviness; he had so much soul that it carried all this lightly, cheerfully, like a supple envelope and by no means like a burden; this weight seemed to give him strength and not take it away [...]. In Tours, the sculptor met a certain Estager, a driver by profession, whose physiognomy and morphotype were reminiscent of Balzac. Rodin painted Estager's portrait, making numerous studies, searching, hesitating, starting over and lingering. In 1892, the monument commission, growing impatient, visited Rodin's studio and, among the various models and studies, chose a standing Balzac in the monk's robe he was accustomed to wearing to work. But Rodin was still not satisfied. He was still looking, and the Société des gens de lettres was exasperated by the long delays. Zola obtained an extension of two years for his protégé. In 1897, Zola no longer presided over the commission and Rodin was summoned to deliver his sculpture, which he did, under duress, by presenting a large plaster cast in 1898 at the Salon des Artistes Français. The work caused quite a stir, and the whole of Paris flocked to see the immense monolithic statue of the writer draped in his monk's robe, arms folded, gazing into the distance, powerful and dominating from the height of his visionary genius. The monument caused a scandal, and two camps formed to vilify or praise the work that revolutionized the codes of sculpture. In 1898, in the midst of the Dreyfus affair, Rodin's statue became a political issue that crystallized passions. Much ink was spilled over the sculpture. Although Rodin was shocked and hurt by this outburst of reaction, he denied nothing: "I made Balzac as I understood it, as I felt it. It cost me five years of study, research and work. What I have done is exactly what I wanted to do. [I won't change a thing. Given the success of the work, a number of studies for this monument were subsequently published. The final study for the head was the subject of successive fonts, with slight modifications to the cut, modeling and fixing.