*AUGUSTE RODIN (Paris, 1840-Meudon, 1917) VICTOR... Lot 76

*AUGUSTE RODIN (Paris, 1840-Meudon, 1917) VICTOR HUGO BUST, TELLED "A L'ILLUSTRE MASTER" Bronze with a brown patina on an integrated pedestal base H 38.1 cm, L. 16.8 cm Base 13.6 x 13.7 cm approx. Sand cast iron made during the artist's lifetime, circa 1916 Foundry Alexis Rudier, Paris AUGUSTE RODIN & VICTOR HUGO From his youth, Rodin felt great admiration for Victor Hugo (1802-1885), through Notre-Dame de Paris, Les Contemplations and especially Les Orientales. He later shared the same passion for Dante, especially for Hell. In 1836, Hugo composed a poem entitled Après une lecture de Dante (Les Voix intérieures, XXVII), and Rodin, from 1880 onwards, worked on his Porte de l'Enfer, largely inspired by the Florentine poet. In 1902, Edward Steichen associated the three names by photographing Rodin in front of the Thinker, and in front of the Monument to Victor Hugo. In this image, resulting from the montage of two negatives, the backlit profiles of Rodin and the Thinker, in its enlarged version, face each other, gathered around the figure bathed in light of the poet. THE MEETING During the 1882 Salon, the bust representing Victor Hugo crowned with laurels directed by Victor Vilain disappointed Edmond Bazire (1846-1892), journalist at Le Rappel and L'Intransigeant: "I would have dreamed perhaps of a more family Victor Hugo, with a ringed beard and sweetness and paternity (...) and I would have liked posterity to see him in his serene and good size". On the other hand, Rodin's bust representing the painter Jean-Paul Laurens enthuses him. Rodin writes to him to thank him and invites him to come and see his work. Bazire visited him in the workshops on rue de l'Université in the late autumn of 1882. The journalist and the sculptor become friends, as shown by the signed copy of The Art of Being a Grandfather. In 1883, Bazire introduced Rodin to the poet and politician, then 80 years old and at the height of his fame. Victor Hugo refuses to lend himself to endless