Koller View 2/21

6 Auguste Rodin is one of the most important sculp- tors in the history of European art. He revitalised the sculpture of his time by referring to classical models and conceptions of art while focusing on nature, the human body and its natural movement. Today, Auguste Rodin’s figures ‘The Thinker’ and ‘The Kiss’ have become a part of our cultural heritage, em- blematic of sculpture’s entry into the modern age. In 1887 however, at its first exhibition in the Georges Petit Gallery in Paris, ‘The Kiss’ caused a veritable scandal. First executed in terracotta, the closely entwined lov- ers were inspired by a well-known episode in Dante Alighieri’s ‘Divine Comedy’, the kiss between Frances- ca da Rimini and her husband’s younger brother, Paolo Malatesta. The notoriety of this incident gave Rodin a welcome excuse to integrate the kissing scene into his ‘Gates of Hell’, which he had begun to work on in 1880. The doors were to form the entrance to the newly built Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Later Rodin rejected this idea because he felt the subject was too harmonious and lacked drama, and he treated ‘The Kiss’ as an independent work. The 1889 sculpture in Pentelic marble is today in the collection of the Musée Rodin. Rodin capitalised on the attention the public’s initial indignation had brought to him and his work by mak- ing his sculptures accessible to a broader group of col- lectors and art lovers as bronze casts. In 1898, Rodin signed a ten-year contract with the Leblanc-Barbe- dienne foundry for the reproduction of his models ‘L’Eternal Printemps’ and ‘The Kiss’ and, together with the renowned foundry, created bronzes of ‘The Kiss’ in various sizes. Some 70 examples of the ‘deuxième réduction’ meas- uring 60 centimetres high were cast in bronze be- tween 1904 and 1918. The contract stipulated that Rodin would receive a fifth of the proceeds from sales. The sculptures were each inscribed on the interior with a number code in ink representing the date of creation. In most cases, due to decades of wear, this number is no longer visible, which is why it is not pos- sible to know exactly when most of the bronzes were cast. The model in our auction is one of the very rare examples where the ink code is still well preserved. The sculpture was created on 8 June 1905 and is thus one of the earliest casts of this size. Its original sales invoice is in the Musée Rodin in Paris. The bronze sculpture, with its warm patina, was acquired in Paris between 1905 and 1910 by the great-great-grandfather of the current owners and has remained in the same family for more than 100 years. Today, ‘The Kiss’ is one of Rodin’s most famous works, and one of the world’s best-known sculptures. 1 Preview of the Impressionist and Modern Art auction on 2 July 2021 From scandal to icon 1 P aul Signac (1863–1935). Saint-Malo, trois-mâts jaune. 1931. Watercolour on paper. 28 × 75 cm. Estimate: CHF 80 000/120 000 2 A uguste Rodin (1840–1917). Le Baiser (The Kiss). 2ème réduction dite aussi ‘réduction n°4’. 1886. Cast on 8 June 1905. Bronze with brown patina. H 59.8 cm. Estimate: CHF 350 000/500 000 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART Jara Koller jara.koller@kollerauctions.com ONLINE CATALOGUES www.kollerauctions.com