Auguste Rodin

Hélène von Nostitz (a gift from the artist in 1911)
Thence by descent to the present owner

Georges Grappe, Catalogue du Musée Rodin, Paris, 1929, no. 276, illustration of bronze version p. 106
Denys Sutton, Triumphant satyr: the world of Auguste Rodin, London, 1966, no. 81, illustration of another version p. 129
Robert Descharnes, Auguste Rodin, Paris, 1967, n.n., illustration of another version p. 220
John L. Tancock, Rodin Museum, Handbook, Philadelphia, 1969, no. 84
Christian Lenz, Rodin und Hélène von Nostitz, Munich, 1999, no. 44, illustrated p. 103
Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, The Bronzes of works in the Musée Rodin, Paris, 2007, no. S. 512, illustration of the bronze version p. 552

Executed in glass paste. There is a seam line visible along the neck of the bust, inherent to the artist's process. There are some naturally incurring inclusions in places and light handling marks. Otherwise this work is in overall good condition.
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Executed in 1911, this graceful and elegant portrait bust of Hélène von Nostitz (née Hindenburg) is the first ever example executed by Rodin in pâte de verre (glass paste) of this subject. A further five examples were executed in glass paste between 1923 and 1934 by the Alexis Rudier Foundry for the Musée Rodin in Paris, three of which are still in their collections, and another of which is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Rodin first showed great interest in the technique when in 1908 he visited a memorial exhibition for Henri Cros (1840-1907) at the Galerie Hébard in Paris. Cros had, in his post at the Sèvres porcelain factory, rediscovered the ancient technique of blending ceramicists' pigments, powdered glass and a binding agent to a mouldable paste which could be fired in a kiln. In 1911 Rodin worked together with Cros's son Jean to execute the present bust in pâte de verre.

Hélène von Nostitz and Rodin first met in Paris in 1900, where she was to become his muse. The daughter of Conrad von Beneckendorff and von Hindenburg and of Sophie Countess of Münster became a friend and travel companion to the artist. Rodin mentioned the days they spent together in his diary and gave her this beautiful sculpture as a gift in 1911. In delicately fine modelling and expressing an intricate Jugendstil style, the artist has not only captured the beauty of his model, but also her vivid and engaging mind. The bust was very well received and has remained in possession of her family until this day. In 1904 Hélène married Alfred von Nostitz-Wallwitz, but still remained in the illustrious circle of such great minds as Henri van de Velde, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Rainer Maria Rilke and Harry Graf Kessler. In the exhibition catalogue from Christan Lenz (fig. 44, p. 103), the delicate bust is described as the most beautiful example Rodin created in pâte de verre and is a truly magnificent proof of the artist’s ability to capture life in all its facets.