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13309

RODIN, Auguste

Paris 1840 - Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine 1917

Maker: Perzinka

La Défense ou L'Appel aux armes

The Defence or The Call to Arms

1879, cast 1899

bronze; lost wax cast [archives, Musée Rodin, Paris]

group

Dimensions (HxWxD): 44 x 25 38 x 17 in.

Acc. No.: 1961.1282

Credit Line: Achat, legs Horsley et Annie Townsend / Purchase, Horsley and Annie Townsend Bequest

Photo credit: photo MBAM/MMFA

© Artist : public domain

© Artist : public domain

Provenance

  • 1900, January 1,Invoice date [archives, Musée Rodin, Paris]
  • 1901, Acquired by Austrian collector Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer (1864-1945), Vienna
  • During World War II, Seized by the Nazis with the intention of incorporating it in the collection of the future Führermuseum Hitler had planned for Linz, Austria [archives, Musée Rodin, Paris]
  • After the War, It was restored to its rightful owners
  • 1961, Purchase, Horsley and Annie Townsend Bequest

Bibliography

  • Museum's website (accessed March 6, 2019)
  • 2007 Le Normand-Romain (français)
    Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, avec la collaboration d'Hélène Marraud et Diane Tytgat, introductions par Dr. Ruth Butler et Mr. Régis Cusinberche, Les Bronzes de Rodin. Catalogue des œuvres au Musée Rodin, 2 volumes, Paris, Musée Rodin / Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 2007, vol. 1, pp. 299-305, La Défense, 1879, cet exemplaire est cité p. 299
  • 2007 Le Normand-Romain (English)
    Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, with the collaboration of Hélène Marraud and Diane Tytgat, introductions by Dr. Ruth Butler and Mr. Régis Cusinberche, The Bronzes of Rodin. Catalogue of works in the Musée Rodin, 2 volumes, English version, Paris, Musée Rodin / Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 2007, vol. 1, pp. 299-305, The Call to Arms, 1879, this copy is mentioned p. 299: "Cast by Léon Perzinka, December 1899, 1,600 francs [one or possibly two]: Montreal, Musée des Beaux-Arts, acq. 1961 [Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer Coll., Vienna; confiscated by the Nazis for the Linz Museum; returned, 1945. This bronze was probably the one exhibited at the Pavillon de l'Alma, in 1900, no. 70, then in Vienna, 1901, no. 50, and sold on the spot for 6,000 francs].

Exhibitions

  • 1900 Paris
    Rodin, Paris, Pavillon de l'Alma, 1900, no. 70 (probably)

    1901 Vienna
    Ninth Secession Exhibition, Vienna, 1901, no. 50 (sold on the spot for 6,000 francs) (probably)

Comment

  • Museum's website (accessed March 6, 2019):
    The starting point for this sculpture was a public competition launched in 1879 for a monument to commemorate the defence of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Rodin submitted a composition of uncompromising narrative and stylistic brutality, highly influenced by Rude’s Departure of the Volunteers of 1792, which adorns the façade of the Arc de Triomphe. Rodin aspired to return to the forms and spirit of liberty characteristic of a Republican aesthetic. Judging his proposal too daring, the jury turned it down in favour of a more academic composition by Barrias.
    The sculpture’s maquette remained in Rodin’s studio, nourishing his reflections and soon winning over connoisseurs. At the very end of 1899, he enlisted the aid of the foundry owner Léon Perzinka to render it in bronze. By that time famous, Rodin was then preparing the retrospective of his work at the Pavillon de l’Alma that would be shown concurrently with the Exposition universelle of 1900, for which this particular example of the work was intended. Its cast and patina, characteristic of Perzinka’s artisanal approach, offered an entirely different version from those executed by the celebrated Rudier firm, Rodin’s main founder. Unlike Rudier, in his workshop Perzinka worked using the sand-casting technique, joining the pieces after they were cast with only modest means at his disposal.
    Acquired by the Austrian collector Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer in 1901, The Defence was seized by the Nazis with the intention of incorporating it in the collection of the future Führermuseum Hitler had planned for Linz. It was restored to its rightful owners after the war, and thus made its way to Canada.