Auguste Rodin

This rare drawing of Two studies of a nude figure combing her long blonde hair, graphite and watercolour on grid paper h. 38 x 10, 5 cm, not signed, will be included in the Catalogue raisonné des dessins d’Auguste Rodin under number crdr 161203.

The present sheet may be included among a group of studies known as “transitional drawings ” of the early 1890’s. These drawings are never signed nor dated, and appear to have been made on varied types of paper.

During this period, Rodin’s approach to drawing
changed radically. Until then, he drew mostly scenes inspired by mythology or literature, working essentially on sculpture projects from the imagination, such as the drawings for the Gates of Hell inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy. The use of grid paper for this drawing suggests it is an early transitional drawing, as grid paper was usually used for his “black” Inferno drawings from the 1880’s.
Change of style appeared when Rodin came back to drawing as a regular activity. He then had the means and needs to use live models. Rodin started keeping lists with names of his models and precise comments on their features. Life drawing, he said, “didn’t just come to me all of a sudden, I started very gently. I was afraid, and then gradually, standing before Nature, I began to understand it better and, in order to love it, reject my prejudices.” Rodin deliberately insisted on his models to pose in a free, natural way, without any academic reference. He would ask them to dress and undress, dance, bend down, run their fingers through their hair… In order to “seize the truth” : “Don’t pretend to be doing your hair, he would say. Really do your hair.” (Maurice Guillemot,
[Entretiens avec A. Rodin], « À travers la vie »,
Gil Blas, 20 Feb. 1898). It was what models did
during their breaks in the studio which became
fascinating to him.

The Two studies of a nude figure combing her
long blonde hair, was drawn in a rapid, instantaneous way. Rodin used to draw without ever looking at the sheet of paper : “my object is to test to what extent my hands already feel what my eyes see” (Anthony Ludovici, [Personal Reminiscences of Auguste Rodin], 1926).

Many of Rodin’s so-called “transitional” drawings show studies of models with medieval Evetype
beauty : small breasts, a round belly, a particular pink tint for the skin and long golden hair.
As an example comparable to the present sheet, Five studies of a nude figure from the musée Rodin in Paris (D. 1524), illustrated above. Auguste Rodin’s tremendous achievement as a sculptor has tended to overshadow recognition of his extraordinary skills as a draughtsman. However the influence of his drawings on Matisse or Picasso is commonly admitted today.
Mme Christina Buley-Uribe

Bukowskis want to thank Mme Christina Buley-Uribe for all the help concerning this work.