Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917) La Danseuse en Position Attitude sur Demi Pointe,

Description:

Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917)

La Danseuse en Position Attitude sur Demi Pointe, c. 1900-1905
Signed "Rodin" in pencil l.r., inscribed "The Whistler Memorial" in pencil on the
reverse.
Watercolor on paper, sheet size 22 7/8 x 17 in. (58.1 x 43.2 cm),framed.
Condition: Subtle toning and mat burn.

Provenance: From the collection of Mrs. Emily Crane Chadbourne, Chicago, Illinois, by descent within the family.

N.B. Within the stylistic chronology of Rodin's drawings, the present work is characteristic of his late period (roughly 1895-1915). Kirk Varnedoe in "The Continuous Line: Modes and Meanings of Rodin's Draftsmanship" notes that during this time, Rodin broke from his earlier drawing practices which were conceptual and painterly, toward an approach that was visual and linear. He began to practice a fixed-gaze technique, where he captured his model's spontaneous gestures without looking at his paper. Of this technique, Rodin explained, "Don't you see that, for my work of modeling, I have not only to possess a complete knowledge of the human form, but also a deep feeling for every aspect of it?...All this must flow naturally from my eye to my hand. Only then can I be certain that I understand…The moment I drop my eyes that flow stops." (1) Rodin would then create a finished work by tracing the main contours of a gestural study onto a new sheet, highlighting the linearity of the figure's movement. A delicate sienna or terra-cotta watercolor wash, such as in the present work, was applied over the entire figure "to unify the figure's overall form and to amplify its volumes." (2)

The drawing is from the collection of Emily Rockford Crane Chadbourne, who was the daughter of the Chicago industrialist Richard Teller Crane, founder of Crane Company and Crane Elevator Company. Like Isabella Stewart Gardner, whom she counted among her friends, she was an avid art collector and philanthropist. She resided in Europe in the 1900s, befriending Roger Fry and Clive Bell of the Bloomsbury Group, before returning to the United States in 1908. (3)

(1) Elsen, Albert E., ed. Rodin Rediscovered. Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1981. Pg. 179
(2) Ibid.
(3) Sutton, Denys. "Reviewed Works: The Letters of Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner 1887-1924." Burlington Magazine. Vol. 130 No. 1026. pg. 710.

Estimate $20,000-30,000

In addition to the condition issues listed above, there is also subtle rippling (most visible at top edge) and light handling creases. There is light scattered staining (with largest are u.l.). Brown gummed tape hinges to u.r. and u.l. corner, old tape residue on the reverse.

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