Henry Moore, Working Model for Animal Form, 1969–1971. Estimate $200,000 - 300,000. 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session.
Redefining the Modern Language for Sculpture
From Jeff Koons’s Gazing Ball (Demeter) to Lynn Chadwick’s bronze couples to Jim Dine’s mythological figures, 20th and 21st century artists have continued redefining the modern language for sculpture first explored by French modernists Auguste Rodin and Antoine Bourdelle. The raw physicality of bronze works featured in our Evening and Day Sales, including Louise Bourgeois and Willem de Kooning—with all their psychological and emotion connotations—are indebted to Rodin’s approach. Bourdelle’s chevaux anticipated Deborah Butterfield’s steel and bronze horses and Kehinde Wiley’s Rumors of War. Even Vase Saigon “Les Limbes et les Syrènes” foreshadows post-war artists’ exploration in the design realm, such as Keith Haring’s Writing Table, Allan McCollum's Collection of Five Perfect Vehicles and Frank Gehry’s Fish Lamp. Whether reinforcing their influence or responding against it, in their own way, each artist adds to the legacy of Rodin and Bourdelle.
Auguste Rodin, Étude pour Adam au pilier, Estimate $40,000 - 60,000. Étude pour Eve au pilier, Estimate $40,000 - 60,000. 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session.
Considered the grandfather of modern sculpture, Rodin was interested in exploring and capturing individual and very human characteristics in his mythological and allegorical subject matter—exemplified in the biblical imagery he employed in Étude pour Adam au pilier and Étude pour Eve au pilier. The anxiety about the human state and individual experience so characteristic of his approach is poignantly apparent in his Cariatide à l’Urne, taille originale dite aussi petit modèle and Main crispée gauche avec figure implorante, the contorted forms of which accentuate movement and dynamism.
Antoine Bourdelle, Cheval avec grand soubassement, étude pour le Monument au général Alvear. Estimate $30,000 - 50,000. 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session.
At the start of his career, Bourdelle shared Rodin’s interest in infusing realism with mythical and archetypal figures, while still foregrounding individual expression. Between 1893 and 1908 he was a pupil and assistant at the studio of Rodin, who was a great admirer of his student’s innovative monumental sculpture. Cheval avec grand soubassement, étude pour le Monument au général Alvear is the perfect example of the rough surfaces of Bourdelle's sculptures influenced by Rodin, and his use of flat, simplified forms drawn from archaic Greek and Roman antiquity.
Henry Moore’s Working Model for Animal Form echoes the work of both Rodin and Bourdelle: while the British sculptor’s exploration of the emotional interiority of humanity—both in relationships with others and isolated—shares an affinity with Rodin’s central concerns, Moore’s interest in antiquity and Greek mythology evokes that of Bourdelle. Working Model for Animal Form is rhythmic, dynamic, and betrays a profound understanding of the human state—characteristics that are so focal to his predecessors’ oeuvres.
Lost Wax Bronze Casting
Conceived and executed between 1895 and 1979, the Rodins and Bourdelle in this superb grouping celebrate the technique and merit of bronze lost wax casting, successfully re-examining the importance of posthumous casting and the preservation of artists’ legacy.
Auguste Rodin, Main crispée gauche avec figure implorante. Estimate $50,000 - 70,000. 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session.
The view some may associate with posthumous casts is conditioned by a specific historical ideology that dates to the 19th and 20th century that prioritized notions of “originality” and “authenticity.” This is based on a misunderstanding of the process of creating a bronze sculpture, which entails the creation of a model that needs to be copied and cast, a process that the artist did not always oversee as closely as many imagine. Rodin was one of the first to take a forward-thinking approach to the “original” and the value of multiples that would go on to inform many outstanding artists of the 20th century. These later casts should be viewed together with sculpture that was being made during the last 70 years to illustrate the enduring influence and relevance of Rodin’s approach not only to the human form but to the way we perceive art today. As attitudes change, some artists have recently seen an increase in prices for posthumous works, because as these artists remind us: what really counts is the mind, not the hand.
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Global Gallery Tour 20th Century & Contemporary Art
Join us on a virtual global gallery tour of Phillips’ upcoming 20th Century and Contemporary Art auction being held in our brand new, state-of-the-art gallery at 432 Park Avenue in the heart of New York City. This sale features masterpieces by David Hockney, Wayne Thiebaud, Vija Celmins, Gerhard Richter, Mark Rothko and many more.
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