Rodin -FORGERIES- at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
NOTE: All Footnotes embolden and enclosed with [FN ].
UPDATED: May 14, 2012
INTRODUCTION
Auguste Rodin died in 1917.
Rhetorically, the dead don't sculpt, much less sign.
1. NELSON-ATKINS' COLLECTION OF RODIN FORGERIES
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's Adam [1928-1929] and The Thinker [1950] are non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed forgeries with counterfeit RODIN and A Rodin signatures.
For some sixty years [1950 - 2011] the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art misleading listed “1880” and "model 1880, cast after 1902" dates for their two non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed forgeries falsely attributed to a dead Auguste Rodin when the above “Alexis Rudier Fondeur Paris” inscriptions on the bases of both should have been red flags those dates were not accurate since the Alexis Rudier foundry, run by Alexis Rudier's son Eugene Rudier,[FN 4] was in business from 1902 to 1952.
On page 1387 in the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, the term -signature- is defined as: “A person’s name or mark written by that person or at the person’s direction.”[FN 7]
Additionally, on page 354 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -counterfeit- is defined as: “To forge, copy, or imitate (something) without a right to do so and with the purpose of deceiving or defrauding.”[FN 8]
Furthermore, under U.S. Copyright Law § 101. Definitions, a "work of visual art” ie., -sculpture- is defined as: “multiple cast, carved, or fabricated sculptures of 200 or fewer that are consecutively numbered by the author and bear the signature or other identifying mark of the author.”[FN 9]
Since Auguste Rodin [d 1917] was dead when the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's The Thinker [1950] and Adam [1928-1929] were posthumously cast in bronze, the posthumous “A Rodin” and “RODIN” inscriptions could not have been “written by that person or at the person’s direction.”
Therefore, would the Musee Rodin’s inscriptions of Auguste Rodin’s name to posthumously cast bronzes and the promotion of those posthumous inscriptions as Auguste Rodin’s signature done “with the purpose of deceiving or defrauding?”
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's marble base for The Thinker and the “didactic panel” for its’ Adam makes the direct representation, by inscription and printed text, they are attributed to Auguste Rodin.
Additionally, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's audio podcast for The Thinker, a celebrity speaker misrepresents, with or without intent, it as a "sculpture" and an "iconic sculpture" that "was made in 1880 and it is the oldest sculpture in the park."[FN 10]
Furthermore, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art uses children voices in their -for kids- podcast, for The Thinker, to misrepresent it as: "This is The Thinker and its a really famous sculpture made by Auguste Rodin in 1880 and its' the oldest sculpture in the park."[FN 11]
REPRESENTATION VERSUS DISCLOSURE
On page 1303 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -representation- is defined as: “A presentation of fact - either by words or by conduct - made to induce someone to act, esp to enter into a contract."[FN 12]
On page 476 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -disclosure- is defined as: “The act or process of making known something that was previously unknown.”[FN 13]
For some sixty years [1950-2011] the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art perpetuated, with or without intent, the misrepresentation of two non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed forgeries, in their collection with counterfeit "RODIN" and "A Rodin" signatures inscribed, with dates that misleadingly predate Auguste Rodin's death. Then suddenly in October 2011, why did the museum start to flip-flop their 60 years of misrepresentation of their non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed forgeries?
Could it have something to do with the October 1, 2011 to June 3, 2012 Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation exhibition that is basically the same collection of non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed forgeries from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection and The B.G. Cantor Art Foundation, exhibited some 40 years earlier in the 1971 AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection exhibition at the former William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts a.k.a. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art?
In the 1971 AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection exhibition catalogue's "Forward," the former William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts director Laurence Sickman wrote: "Through the generosity of the B. Gerald Cantor Collection and the B.G. Cantor Art Foundation, the Gallery is privileged to exhibit the most comprehensive group of bronze sculptures by Auguste Rodin ever shown in Kansas City."[FN 20]
Auguste Rodin -never- created a "bronze sculpture."
All bronzes cast ie., reproduced from his models during Auguste Rodin's lifetime, much less posthumously, are -at best- reproductions.
The Nelson-Atkins Museums of Art states it: “depends upon members of all levels to support the learning and enrichment programs that make our Museum an important – and free – community resource.”[FN 21]
On page 292 of The Random House College Dictionary, -contradiction- is defined as: "A statement that contradicts or denies another or itself and is logically incongruous."[FN 22]
So, if Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art offers free admission, if you buy membership, what are we to make of such a contradiction?
Therefore, whether by words or conduct, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is trying to “induce someone to act, exp. to enter into a contract,” which includes but not limited to: “individual museum membership for $65 each, tax-deductible Fellow memberships from $1,000 to $10,000 each and tax-deductible Business partners from $3,500 to $100,000 each.”[FN 23]
So, how can the public give informed consent on whether to visit the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, much less purchase a museum membership, if the museum is willing to make the representation: “bronze sculptures by Auguste Rodin” that does -not- match the disclosure?
2. NELSON-ATKINS MUSEUM DIRECTOR'S HUBRIS
In the installation video posted on the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s website for their Rodin: Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation exhibition, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s CEO and director Julián Zugazagoitia states: “We are so fortunate that Iris Cantor opened her collection for us to be able to welcome it here at the Nelson-Atkins. As you know the Cantors have been the most important components of the scholarship and of the study of diffusion of Rodin’s work in the United States and the world.”[FN 24]
On page 1232 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -propaganda- is defined as: “the systematic dissemination of doctrine, rumor, or selected information to promote, or injure a particular doctrine, view or cause.”[FN 25]
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art CEO and director Julian Zagzagoitia, with or without intent, is using scholarship as an euphemism for propaganda.
Does Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s CEO and director Julian Zugazagoitia want the public to believe or suspend disbelief when he promotes an exhibition of non-disclosed reproductions and posthumous forgeries, falsely attributed as original works of visual art ie., -sculptures by Auguste Rodin- as “a presentation that gives the sense of many of his lifetime achievements?”
The dead don’t have -lifetime- achievements.
Additionally, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s CEO and director is a current member of the Association of Art Museum Directors and “has served on the Board of the Association of Art Museum Directors since 2007.”[FN 26]
Therefore, as an AAMD member and board member, Julian Zugazagoitia endorses the ethical guidelines mandated in their published 2001 Professional Practices in Art Museum manuel.
In part, but not limited to, on page 31 under the subtitle -Reproductions of Works of Art- in the Professional Practices in Art Museum manuel, it states: “misleading marketing of reproductions, has created such widespread confusion as to require clarification in order to maintain professional standards. - museums must clearly indicate through the use of integral markings on the objects, as well as signs, labels and advertising, that these items are reproductions - signatures, edition numbers, and/or foundry marks on sculpture must not appear on the reproduction.”[FN 27]
Therefore, the posthumous inscriptions of an artist's name and foundry marks to any posthumous reproduction, much less a forgery, in their collection would violate the Association of Art Museum Director member and Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's director Julian Zagzagoitia's endorsed ethical guidelines.
Additionally, in part, but not limited to, on page 22 under the subtitle -Criteria for Deaccessioning and Disposal-, it states: “The authenticity or attribution of he object lacks sufficient aesthetic merit or art historical importance to warrant retention. In disposing of or retaining a presumed forgery, the museum shall consider all ethical issues including the consequences of returning the object to the market.”[FN 28]
Rhetorically, should any museum, much less the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's deaccess ie., sell a "presumed forgery back into the marketplace and stick some unsuspecting buyer or subsequent patron with it?
AAMD ETHICAL GUIDELINES FOR REPRODUCTIONS
As an AAMD member, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and its' director Julian Zugazagoitia endorses the ethical guidelines on reproductions in their 2001 Professional Practices in Art Museum publication. In part, it states: "museums must clearly indicate, through the use of integral markings on the objects, as well as signs, labels, and advertising, that these items are reproductions - signatures, editions numbers, and/or foundry marks on sculpture must not appear on the reproduction. - The touting of exaggerated investment value of reproductions must be avoided because the object or work being offered for purchase is not original and the resale value is highly in doubt. - When advertising reproductions, museums should not use language implying that there is any identity of quality between the copy and the original or lead the potential buyer to believe that by purchasing any such reproduction, he or she is acquiring an original work of art." [FN 29]
Therefore, under these ethical guidelines, AAMD members, such as the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, could not even display, much less sell The Thinker and Adam [in their collection] in their gift shop because of the posthumous application of a counterfeit "A. Rodin" and "RODIN" signature sand the Alexis Rudier foundry mark.
Obviously, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is located in the United States of America at 4525 Oak Street in Kansas City, Missouri and operates under the U.S. laws.
Under U.S. Copyright Law § 101. Definitions, a "work of visual art” ie., -sculpture- is defined as: “multiple cast, carved, or fabricated sculptures of 200 or fewer that are consecutively numbered by the author and bear the signature or other identifying mark of the author.”[FN 30]
Since The Thinker was posthumously cast in 1950 and Adam was posthumously cast in 1928/1929, under U.S. Copyright Law's definition of a "work of visual art" ie., sculpture, a dead Auguste Rodin [d 1917] could -never- be the author.
Additionally, under U.S. Copyright Law 101. Definitions, a -derivative work- is defined as an: "art reproduction"[FN 31] and under U.S. Copyright Law 106A. the "Rights of certain authors to attribution and integrity - shall not apply to any reproduction." [FN 32]
Therefore, since anything posthumously cast by definition would be a reproduction that subsequent derivative ie., reproduction would not be attributable to an artist, living or dead.
Yet, too many museums to mention like the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art operate more like foreign embassies where they either cite non-applicable foreign decrees to justify their avarice or ignore applicable U.S. laws, much less their own endorsed ethical guidelines, as if they are exempt.
Like Alice in Wonderland, where's a rabbit hole when you need one?
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. [The more things change, the more they are the same.]
3. MUSEE RODIN'S SKEWING OF RODIN'S TRUE LEGACY
On page 285 in the former Musee Rodin curator Monique Laurent’s “Observations on Rodin and His Founders” essay, published in the National Gallery of Art’s 1981 Rodin Rediscovered catalogue, the former Musee Rodin curator documents that the Auguste Rodin’s 1916 Will stated: “notwithstanding the transfer of artistic ownership authorized to the State of M. Rodin, the latter expressly reserves for himself the enjoyment during his life, of the reproduction rights of those objects given by him.”[FN 33]
The Musee Rodin is using “original pieces” as an euphemism for reproductions.
REPRESENTATION: FROM RODIN'S ORIGINAL PLASTERS
Continuing on page 47 of the 1999-2000 RODIN catalogue for an exhibition organized by gallery owner Jose M. Tasende with collaboration of Musee Rodin’s Jacques Vilain and Stephanie Le Follie, it states: “By virtue of the Decree of September 5, 1978 and of Decree No. 93-163 of February 2, 1993, both relative to its statute, the Musee Rodin has had casting done from the original plasters given by Rodin to the French Government in 1916 on conditions set by the laws in effect, as follows, Decree No. 81-255 of March 3, 1981 (Official Journal of the French Republic 03/20/81, Decree No. 91-1326 of December 23, 1991 (Official Journal of the French Republic 12/31/91 enforced by the Ethical Code of Artistic Foundries and Decree 95-172 of February 17, 1995.”[FN 34]
Yet, in contradiction with itself, on the Musee Rodin admits, in violation of Auguste Rodin’s 1916 Will, it does -not- reproduce in bronze from “those object given by” Auguste Rodin.
DISCLOSURE: NOT FROM RODIN'S ORIGINAL PLASTERS
This -blockbuster- admission has been published on the Musee Rodin’s website, where the Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Le Normand Romain wrote: “Consequently, whenever it is decided to release a new ‘subject,’ a copy is first made from the old mould which can be sent without risk to the foundry where it undergoes the necessary preparations for casting. It is coated with an unmoulding agent, usually in a dark colour, and cut, before being cast again. This practice not only ensures absolute fidelity to the original but also preserves the old plasters which are obviously more valuable since they were made during the lifetime of Rodin.”[FN 35]
Since these second-generation-removed casts in bronze are not reproduced from Auguste Rodin's original lifetime plasters, by definition, they would not even be considered reproductions.
This factual perspective is confirmed on page 350 in HarperCollins’ published 1991 Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques by Ralph Mayer, where -reproduction- is defined as: “a general term for any copy, likeness, or counterpart of an original work of art or of a photograph, done in the same medium as the original or in another, and done by someone other than the creator of the original.”[FN 36]
Additionally, on page 70 in HarperCollins’ published 1991 Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques by Ralph Mayer, -cast- is defined as: “to reproduce an object, such as a piece of sculpture, by means of a MOLD.”[FN 37]
So, when the Musee Rodin has someone, with their hands and fingers, posthumously reproduce/cast plaster reproductions from Auguste Rodin's original lifetime plasters, rhetorically whose fingerprints are subsequently cast into bronze?
Yet, the vast majority of the academia and museum industry have the misconception and/or perpetuate, with or without intent, that misconception that these non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed bronze forgeries, falsely attributed to dead Auguste Rodin, are cast directly from his original lifetime plaster models.
An example of this misconception can be found in the National Gallery of Art's published 1981 Rodin Rediscovered catalogue. On page 279 of the "An Original in Sculpture" essay, the author, Jean Chatelain, professor at the University of Paris and former director of the Museums of France, wrote: "When the twelfth copy of The Burghers of Calais is cast, the same plaster model will be used as was used the first time in 1894, but of course different craftsmen will carry out the casting."[FN 38]
So, what would Jean Chatelain think of the Musee Rodin's posthumous practice of sending plaster reproductions, rather than Auguste Rodin's original lifetime plasters, for casting in bronze?
SECONDARY REPRODUCTIONS NOT EQUAL TO ORIGINAL
Ironically, in the prior page 278 of his "An Original in Sculpture" essay, Jean Chatelain wrote: "an engraving can be reproduced by means of photographic techniques, a tapestry can be copied from one already made, and a bronze statue can be copied from an existing bronze. Through manipulation of these techniques, it is possible to achieve quite commendable results, but all things being equal, none of these secondary reproductions will have the same quality as those made from the original model itself."[FN 39]
J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM DEFINES COUNTERFEIT
J. Paul Getty Museum, under their Getty Research, defines -counterfeit- as: "forgeries (derivative objects)" with a note stating: "Reproductions of whole objects when the intention is to deceive; includes sculptures cast without the artist's permission."[FN 40]
So, if Auguste Rodin gave the “right of reproduction to objects given by him” and he did, and the Musee Rodin, in commercial venues in the United States, promotes that they have “casting done from the original plasters given by Rodin” and they do, what are we to make of the -blockbuster- contradiction when the Musee Rodin admits they do -not- send Auguste Rodin’s original plasters to the foundry for casting but posthumous plaster reproductions?
VARIATIONS IN THE NUMBERING SYSTEM
One of the Musee Rodin's largest 20th-21st century patrons, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, on their website, states: "Efforts have been made in France by the Musée Rodin and in the United States by the College Art Association to ensure the quality and authenticity of posthumous casts. In 1956 French law limited the casting of each of Rodin’s works to twelve examples of each size. In 1968 France passed a law requiring that the date of the cast be inscribed on each sculpture. A system of numbering was established by French legislation in 1981 whereby the first eight of the twelve casts, numbered 1/8–8/8, are made available for public purchase; the last four, numbered I/IV–IV/IV, are reserved for cultural institutions. (Despite these efforts, variations in the numbering system are occasionally found on authorized casts.)"[FN 41]
CANTOR FOUNDATION FLIP-FLOPPING
For over ten years the United States based Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation's website promoted limitation of "Rodin's work to twelve examples," under French law, was reestablished and strictly imposed in 1981"[FN 42] but now the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation is now flip-flopping when it states: "Despite these efforts, variations in the numbering system are occasionally found on authorized casts."[FN 43]
Under U.S. Copyright Law,, a “multiple cast, carved, or fabricated sculptures of 200 or fewer" to be considered a -limited edition- it must be "consecutively numbered by the author and bear the signature or other identifying mark of the author.”[FN 44]
Auguste Rodin died in 1917.
Rhetorically, the dead don't posthumously consecutively number or apply their signature.
What was Auguste Rodin’s attitude toward casting work in bronze?
On page 22 in the published 1988 RODIN catalogue by Monique Laurent, the former Musee Rodin curator wrote that Auguste Rodin: “attitude towards bronze sculpture was quite different and complex, and it was influenced by the obligation he felt to respond to the needs of different clients. - For the general public, he had no hesitation in disseminating, as was the custom of the time, his most famous sculptures - The Kiss, The Thinker, The Eternal Spring - in the form of mechanical reductions which specialist foundries would sell directly, the sculptor who supplied the model merely receiving an agreed percentage.”[FN 45]
So, did Auguste Rodin actually sign and/or number any of the lifetime casts of his work?
This is in part answered on page 22 of the 1988 RODIN, where the author and former Musee Rodin curator Monique Laurent wrote: “Most of the bronzes are stamped with the artist’s signature (copied from an example supplied by him) and also with the stamp of the foundry. Some although perfectly authentic, are unsigned. But there is no question of any of them being numbered or dated, these are modern methods, linked with the notion of rarity and speculation in art.”[FN 46]
NO LIMITATION EXCEPT FOR THE TRUTH
So, if the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation states: “In 1956 French law limited the casting of each of Rodin’s works to twelve examples of each size,” why is their 1984 bronze cast of Auguste Rodin’s Adam, listed as no. 7 of 8, the 25th posthumous bronze cast of at least twenty-five total lifetime and posthumous casts?
Rhetorically, would it seem the Musee Rodin can't count and the scholarship of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation can't be counted on?
Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation’s “Summary: Authorized Posthumous Casting of the Work of Auguste Rodin” SOURCE: News Media [Click to enlarge]
4. CANTOR FOUNDATION'S AVARICE
Several years ago in response to the news media inquiries on the authenticity of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation’s touring Rodin collection, the foundation issued a “Summary: Authorized Posthumous Casting of the Work of Auguste Rodin” position paper.
The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation stated: “All works in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection and Cantor Foundation Collection are original Rodins. Some of these were made during Rodin’s lifetime, other were made after he died and according to his explicit wishes and instructions to the government of France.”[FN 47]
The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation is using -original- as an euphemism for -forgeries-, much less for reproductions.
Remember, as documented earlier, on page 285 in the former Musee Rodin curator Monique Laurent’s “Observations on Rodin and His Founders” essay, in the National Gallery of Art’s published 1981 Rodin Rediscovered catalogue, the former Musee Rodin curator documents that the Auguste Rodin’s 1916 Will stated: “notwithstanding the transfer of artistic ownership authorized to the State of M. Rodin, the latter expressly reserves for himself the enjoyment during his life, of the reproduction rights of those objects given by him.”[FN 48]
Therefore, why are the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation misrepresenting Auguste Rodin’s true “explicit wishes and instructions to the government of France” by promoting their collection of non-disclosed posthumous -forgeries-, much less lifetime reproductions, as originals?
The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation’s The Thinker bronze reproduction is ambiguously listed, in their Rodin: Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection
exhibition checklist for their 1997 Krannert Art Museum exhibition
venue, as: “1880, reduction made before Rodin’s death in 1917, cast at a
later date,” with a given “Insurance value: $250,000.”
There are only two lifetime reproductions of Auguste Rodin’s reduction of The Thinker listed in the Musee Rodin’s published 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin by Antoinette Le Normand Romain. On page 587 the curator wrote: “according to Rene Cheruy’s Notes [Musee Rodin archives], only two casts were made of the reduction, the first of which was given by Rodin to Mrs. Joseph Pulitzer, and the second to P. A. Cheramy [sale, Paris, Hotel Drouot, 14 April 1913, no. 308].”[FN 49]
That fact is additionally confirmed on page 587 of The Bronzes of Rodin catalogue, when the former Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Le Normand Romain further wrote: “Although Cheruy was right at the time he wrote this [in the 1920’s], a proliferation of casts soon followed. - About thirty casts by Alexis Rudier” with two of the bronze casts listed in the “former Lucien Mellerio Coll., acq. before 1919.”[FN 50]
So, the Musee Rodin promotes for sale, in their gift shop, The Thinker reproductions for $903.53 each and the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation misrepresents, in their touring exhibitions, The Thinker reproduction as a sculpture and insures it for $250,000.
Additionally, in the “Summary: Authorized Posthumous Casting of the Work of Auguste Rodin” position paper, in a further effort to obscure issues of authenticity surrounding their so-called Rodin collection, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation wrote: “Efforts have been made in France by the Musee Rodin and in the United States by the College Art Association to ensure the quality and authenticity of posthumous casts, as well as their accurate identification as such.”
First, the Alexis Rudier foundry, as documented earlier, went into business in 1902, some 22 years after the disingenuously listed “1880” date.
So, listing this specific The Thinker as “date of cast unknown” may be true but is not accurate.
Second, as for the so-called “date of cast unknown” for this specific The Thinker, on page 586 of The Bronzes of Rodin, the former Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Le Normand lists one of the [71.5 cm high] bronze casts, chronologically after a 1931 cast, as: “no. 2, Los Angeles, Cantor Coll. [acq. directly from Rudier by the previous owner, before 1940].”[FN 52]
So, once again, listing this specific The Thinker as “date of cast unknown” may be true but is not accurate.
Third, on page 1386 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -sign- is defined as: “To identify (a record) by means of a signature, mark, or other symbol with the intent to authenticate it as an act or agreement of the person identifying it.”[FN 53]
So, listing this specific The Thinker as “Signed A. Rodin” is not accurate, since the dead don’t identify, much less authenticate.
Yet, despite the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation’s misleading and inaccurate descriptions given for their collection of posthumous reproduction/casts, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art would have the public believe or just suspend disbelief, in their “Rodin Sculptures Illustrate Power of Emotions” press release for the October 1, 2011 to June 4, 2012 Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation exhibition, that: “This exhibition brings together more than 40 bronze sculptures by Rodin from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, which aims to promote understanding and appreciation of the artist’s achievements.”[FN 54]
It would seem both the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art are committed to fostering the illusion of authenticity of their non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed forgeries in their collections but not the understanding and appreciation of Auguste Rodin, much less any artist’s true achievements.
The dead don’t have achievements.
Auguste Rodin, French (1840–1917). Small Right Clenched Hand,
modeled ca. 1885, cast number, edition size and date unknown. Bronze, 5 ½
x 4 ½ x 2 ½ inches. Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/rodin/smallright.cfm
LIFETIME REPRODUCTION
5. 2011-2012 EXHIBITION OF RODIN FORGERIES
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's October 1, 2011 to June 4, 2012 Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation exhibition contains -no- sculptures. At best, the exhibition contains only 7 lifetime reproductions and 35 non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed forgeries with counterfeit "A Rodin" signatures.
Since the vast majority of bronzes cast during Auguste Rodin's lifetime went directly from the foundry to the patron, Auguste Rodin has probably never seen the seven potential lifetime reproductions, much less the 35 non-disclosed posthumous forgeries in this exhibition
Yet, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's September 26, 2011 “Rodin Sculptures Illustrate Power of Emotions”[FN 55] press release states: "More than 40 of his powerful bronze sculptures will be exhibited in the Bloch Lobby from Oct. 1, 2011 through June 3, 2012.
Additionally, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's press release states the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation "includes among its aims the promotion, understanding and appreciation of Rodin's achievements."[FN 56]
Once again, under U.S. Copyright Law 101. Definitions, a “work of visual art” ie., -sculpture- is defined as: “multiple cast, carved, or fabricated sculptures of 200 or fewer that are consecutively numbered by the author and bear the signature or other identifying mark of the author.”[FN 57]
Yet, in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation’s published 2001 Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession catalogue, all 35 of the non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed forgeries, in this exhibition, are listed as being: “Signed A. Rodin.”[FN 58]
Now, that would be quite an achievement, since the dead don’t sign.
The Director and CEO Julian Zugazagoitia stated "the [Oct. 1, 2011 to June 4, 2012 in their Rodin, Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation] exhibition is a celebration of the importance of sculpture at the Nelson-Atkins."[FN 59]
The "celebration of the importance of sculpture" is understanding the dead don’t sculpt.
7 POSSIBLE LIFETIME REPRODUCTIONS
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1 of 7 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, modeled ca. 1885–89, cast number, edition size and date unknown, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
On page 177 of the 2001 Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession catalogue, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation lists in their collection an Ovid's Metamorphoses [with the following dimensions: 33.3 x 40 x 26 cm and date "c. 1885-89, date of cast unknown"], is listed as "Signed on base with raised signature A Rodin inside" and Perzinka foundry.[FN 60]
On page 288 in Monique Laurent's "Rodin and His Founder"s essay, in the National Gallery of Art's published 1981 Rodin Rediscovered catalogue, the former Musee Rodin curator wrote: "The activity of Leon Perzinka, caster and carver, installed at 29, then 11-13, rue Montreuil at Versailles, took place between 1896 and 1901."[FN 61]
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
2 of 7 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Head of Shade with Two Hands, modeled ca. 1910, cast 2, edition size and date unknown, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
On page 573 of the Musee Rodin's published 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin, the former Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Normand-Romain wrote of Auguste Rodin experimenting "with combining the whole figure, or fragments, with other works: thus while the head of the Shade found itself clasped between its two hands apparently tied together at the base of the neck [fig 8]." On the opposite page, page 572, -fig. 8- has the following description: "Head of the Shade between Two Hands, after 1886, bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, Los Angeles." [Footnote 16, on page 574, states: "Plaster, S.1050 {20.1 x 26.8 x 21.7 cm}. Bronzes, cast by Alexis Rudier: "no. 2," Los Angeles Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation."[FN 62]
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
3 of 7 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Fugitive Love, modeled before 1887, cast number, edition size and date unknown, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
On page 380 of the Musee Rodin's published 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin, the former Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Normand-Romain wrote: "A bronze, which seems to have been cast from a marble, only the surbase of which has survived [26.7 x 56 x 29.2 cm; signed]: Los Angeles, Cantor Foundation, acq. Sotheby's New York, 23 October 1980, no. 208."[FN 63]
Later on page 383 of The Bronzes of Rodin , in reference to another bronze cast from a marble, the former Musee Rodin curator wrote: "the bronze that Rodin gave Jean Aicard in early 1895 has been made from a cast of this marble, which was, moreover, often reproduced."[FN 64]
Aside, -cast- by definition means "to reproduce an object such as a sculpture by use of a MOLD,"[FN 65] anything "reproduced" logically results in reproductions.
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
4 of 7 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Small Right Clenched Hand, modeled ca. 1885, cast number, edition size and date unknown, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
On page 501 of the Musee Rodin's published 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin, the former Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Normand-Romain wrote in her Footnote 5: "Clenched Right Hand, small version; plaster, S. 5284; S. 6078, with beginning of wrist [14.2 x 10.8 x 7.6 cm]. Bronzes, cast by Leon Perzinka, 1899; Alexis Rudier, 1906. Seven casts after 1917 by Alexis Rudier: Stanford University, Cantor Art Center, gift of B. Gerald Cantor, 1978; Los Angeles Cantor Foundation, then by Georges Rudier, between 1953 and 1961: London, Victoria and Albert Museum, acq. 1953; no. 5, Stanford University, Cantor Arts Center, gift of the Cantor Foundation, 1974."[FN 66]
On page 188 of the 2001 Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession catalogue, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation lists in their collection two Small Clenched Right Hand bronzes [with the following dimensions: 14 x 11.4 x 6.4 cm and dates "c. 1885, date of cast unknown"], listed as "Signed A Rodin" with an Alexis Rudier foundry inscription.[FN 67]
So, whether one of the two Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation's Small Clenched Right Hand bronzes is a lifetime [1906?] cast or posthumously cast after 1917 by the Alexis Rudier foundry [1902-1952], the "1885" date is not applicable since the foundry was some 17 years from being in
business.
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
5 of 7 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Left Hand of Pierre de Wissant, modeled ca. 1884–89, cast number, edition size and date unknown, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
On page 241 of the Musee Rodin's published 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin, the former Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Normand-Romain wrote: "Pierre and Jacques de Wissant, Left hand, c. 1885-86, sand cast, before 1916, 20.9 x 19.1 x 11.6 cm, Signed A. Rodin across the writ, on the inner arm. Foundry mark Alexis Rudier./Fondeur, Paris on the upper arm." and other casts "by Alexis and Georges Rudier [no. 4, © 1967, Stanford University, Cantor Arts Center, gift of Cantor Foundation, 1974]. A bronze with no foundry mark, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, anonymous gift, 2001."[FN 68]
The Alexis Rudier foundry went into business in 1902 till 1952 and its' successor Georges Rudier foundry from 1952 till 1980's.
On page 187 of the 2001 Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession catalogue, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation lists in their collection: Left Hand of Pierre de Wiessant, c. 1884-89, date of cast unknown, Bronze, Alexis Rudier, 27.9 x 19 x 15.2 cm, Signed A. Rodin."[FN 69]
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
6 of 7 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Pierre de Wissant, modeled 1886–87, cast number, edition size and date unknown, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
On page 237 of the Musee Rodin's published 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin, the former Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Normand-Romain wrote: "Pierre de Wissant, Reduction, sand cast, 1917? [before 1952], 45 x 17 x 16.7 cm, Signed A. Rodin" [in Musee Rodin's collection] and other casts are listed with "no foundry mark[s]" and casts by Alexis Rudier: Cambridge [Mass.], Harvard University, Fogg Art Museum, bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop, 1943 [acq. 1923 or 1925]; San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, gift of Mrs. Spreckels, 1941 [acq. from Eugene Rudier, 1929]; Saarbruck, Saarland Museum, acq. 1959; Notre Dame [Ind.], Snite Museum of Art, acq. from the Otto Gerson Gallery, New York, 1960; San Antonio, Marion Koogle McNay Art Museum, acq. 1963;
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, bequest of Mrs. Stephen C. Clark, 1967; Louisville, J.B. Speed Art Museum, acq. 1968; Brooklyn Museum of Art, gift of Cantor Foundation, 1984; Los Angeles, Cantor Coll.; Mexico City, Soumaya Museum. Six further casts by Alexis then Georges Rudier, between 1944 and 1959."[FN 70]
Documented casts by Alexis Rudier of Pierre de Wissant (Reduction) bronzes post date "1917?" and Auguste Rodin's death.
Yet, on page 180 of the 2001 Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession catalogue, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation lists in their collection: Pierre de Wiessant (Reduction), c. 1886-87, reduction made in either 1895 or 1899, date of cast unknown, Bronze, Alexis Rudier, 47.6 x 16.5 x 10.2 cm, Signed A. Rodin."[FN 71]
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
7 of 7 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Right Hand, Middle Fingers Together, model date unknown, cast number, edition size and date unknown, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
On page 501 of the Musee Rodin's published 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin, the former Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Normand-Romain wrote: "In 1926, Baron Chasseriau, the chairman of the board, suggested that the museum bring out editions of the hands: "I was thinking about the number of models of hands of all kinds which are in Meudon and which, reduced in bronze, would certainly be a source of income. People would buy them to offer as gifts at various ceremonies, where it is always difficult to choose which present to make. Much appreciated by collectors [nos. 1 to 22] and gradually slowing down until the final series [Hand No. 39] was cast between 1974 and 1977."[FN 72]
On page 189 of the 2001 Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession catalogue, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation lists in their collection: Right Hand, Middle Finger Slightly Bent, No date, Bronze, No foundry mark, 4 x 2 x 1 1/2 in. (10.2 x 5.1 x 3.8 cm), Signed A Rodin."[FN 73]
35 NON-DISCLOSED POSTHUMOUS FORGERIES
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1931
1 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, The Thinker, modeled 1880, cast number and edition size unknown, ca. 1931, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1956 of later
2 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Right Hand, Fingers Close Together, Slightly Bent, modeling date unknown, Musée Rodin cast 6/12, date unknown, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
The Musee Rodin did not officially go into business till 1919.
Additionally, the artificial edition of twelve is a posthumous practice by the Musee Rodin as admitted by Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation's own published words: "In 1956 French law limited production to twelve casts of each model." [p 2, RODIN, Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection brochure]
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1959
3 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Three Faunesses, modeled before 1896, Musée Rodin cast number unknown in edition of 12, 1959, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1960’s
4 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Study for Balzac (Type “B”), modeled 1896, Musée Rodin cast 8, edition size unknown, 1963, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
5 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Crouching Woman, modeled ca. 1880–82, Musée Rodin cast 4/5, 1963, Bronze, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of B. Gerald Cantor Art Foundation, M.73.108.4, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
6 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Large Right Clenched Hand, modeled ca. 1885, Musée Rodin, cast number and edition size unknown, 1965, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
7 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Large Clenched Left Hand, modeled ca. 1885, Musée Rodin cast 3/12, 1966, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
8 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Iris, Messenger of the Gods, modeled 1890–1900, Musée Rodin cast 9/12, 1966, Bronze, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of B. Gerald Cantor Art Foundation, M.73.108.11
9 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Large Left Hand of a Pianist, modeled 1885, Musée Rodin cast 9/12, 1969, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1970’s
10 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Jean d’Aire, Second Maquette, modeled 1885–86, Musée Rodin cast 1/12, 1970, Bronze
11 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Clenched Left Hand with Figure, modeled ca. 1906–07, Musée Rodin cast 1/12, 1970, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
12 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Falling Man, modeled 1882, Musée Rodin cast 5/12, 1974, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
13 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Adam with Pillar, modeled 1878–80, Musée Rodin cast 10/12, 1978, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
14 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Nude Study of Balzac (Type“C”), modeled ca. 1892, Musée Rodin cast 12/12, 1976, Bronze, Iris andB. Gerald Cantor Collection
15 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Women Damned, modeled ca. 1885, Musée Rodin cast 2/12, 1978, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1980's
16 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Monumental Head of Pierrede Wissant, modeled ca. 1884–85, Musée Rodin cast 10/12, 1980, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
17 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Monumental Head of Balzac, modeled 1897, Musée Rodin cast 9/12, 1980, Bronze, Iris and B.Gerald Cantor Foundation
18 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Maquette of General Lynch, modeled 1886, Musée Rodin cast 5, edition size unknown, 1981, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
19 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Balzac in Dominican Robe, modeled 1893, Musée Rodin cast 9, edition size unknown, 1981, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection
20 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Jean de Fiennes, modeled 1885–86, Musée Rodin cast 2/8, 1981, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection, Promised Gift to the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
21 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, The Three Shades, modeled 1880–1904, Musée Rodin cast 10, edition size unknown, 1981, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection
22 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Study for the Monument to Whistler, modeled 1905–06, Musée Rodin cast 3/8, 1983, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
23 of 35 Auguste
Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Paolo and Francesca, modeled 1889, Musée
Rodin cast 5, edition size unknown, 1983, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald
Cantor Foundation
24 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, The Creator, modeled ca. 1900, Musée Rodin cast II/IV, 1984, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
25 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Small Torso of Falling Man, modeled ca. 1882, Musée Rodin cast II/IV, 1984, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
26 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Narcissus, modeled ca. 1882, Musée Rodin cast 8/8, 1985, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
27 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Head of Balzac, modeled 1892–93, Musée Rodin cast 4/8, 1985, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
28 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Head of Shade, modeled ca. 1880, Musée Rodin cast 1/8, 1988, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
29 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Bust of Young Balzac, modeled 1893, Musée Rodin cast II/IV, 1988, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1990’s
30 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Torso of Despairing Adolescent, modeled ca. 1882–87, Musée Rodin cast 1/8, 1991, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
31 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, The Gates of Hell, Third Maquette, modeled 1880, Musée Rodin cast 1/8, 1991, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection
32 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Claude Lorrain, modeled 1889, Musée Rodin cast 5/8, 1992, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection
33 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, The Gates of Hell, Second Maquette, modeled 1880, Musée Rodin cast II/IV, 1995, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection
34 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Final Head of Eustache de St. Pierre, modeled ca. 1886, Musée Rodin cast II/IV, 1995, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
35 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Head of Shade, modeled ca. 1880, Musée Rodin cast II/IV, 1995, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
The illusion of authenticity, is never more evident than in a video posted on the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s website. In referring to The Three Shades in the exhibition, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s associate curator Nicole Myers states: “It is just so powerfully sculpted and I personally am very moved when I stand in front of it and find I can stare at for hours on end and come back to it and keep looking see different things and feel different things.”[FN 74]
Aside, Auguste Rodin [d 1917] has never seen the 1981 posthumous second-generation-removed forgery of The Three Shades with a counterfeit "A Rodin" signature, that the Nelson-Atkins Museum
of Art’s associate curator Nicole Meyers would -stare- upon for hours, what are we to make a museum curator and her connoisseurship who would refer to something as sculpted, that clearly was not sculpted, much less by a dead Auguste Rodin?
In the installation video posted on the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s website for their Rodin: Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation exhibition, the announcer Nancy Layton states: “The exhibition illustrates the breath and depth of Rodin’s career.”[FN 75]
On page 204 of Random House College Dictionary, -career- is defined as: "progress or general course of action of a person through life."[FN 76]
Yet, if we take just two examples of the so-called -sculptures-, the Falling Man and Paolo Francesca, in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s Rodin: Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation exhibition, they were posthumously reproduced/cast in 1974 and 1983 respectively, some 57 to 66 years after Auguste Rodin’s death in 1917.
Rhetorically, the dead don't have careers.
6. 1971 EXHIBITION OF RODIN FORGERIES
The above bronze titled: The Earth, with the listed date of “1885” in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Art’s published 1971 AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection and The B. G. Cantor Art Foundation catalogue and exhibition, was actually 1 of 13 posthumously reproduced/cast by the Georges Rudier foundry between 1962 and 1970.
Yet, in the Foreword, for this 1971 catalogue the Director Laurence Sickman wrote: “Through the generosity of the B. Gerald Cantor Collection and the B. G. Cantor Art Foundation, the Gallery is privileged to exhibit the most comprehensive group of bronze sculptures by Auguste Rodin ever shown in Kansas City.”[FN 77]
Auguste Rodin sent his models to foundries for reproduction ie., casting in bronze that the majority of the time went straight to a polisher for the patina. By definition, -cast- “means to reproduce an object, such as a piece of sculpture by use of a mold.”[FN 78]
So, whether a lifetime or posthumous cast, at best, the result would be bronze reproductions, -not- bronze sculptures.
RODIN’S PERSONAL CONTROL OVER PRODUCTION SLIGHTLY FANCIFUL
This fact is supported on page 22 in the published 1988 RODIN catalogue by Monique Laurent, where the former Musee Rodin curator wrote: “Often it was the polisher rather than the caster who gave the piece its final tone. And since one of the most loyal of these, Limet, lived more than a hundred kilometers from Paris, received the pieces directly from the foundry, and, after putting on the patina, sent them straight to the clients, one must admit that the idea Rodin had personal control over every phase of production was slightly fanciful, at least after his success in 1900.”[FN 79]
The source for the checklist below is the 1971 AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection and The B. G. Cantor Art Foundation catalogue for an exhibition at the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts:
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
The Georges Rudier foundry went into business in 1952, 35 years after Auguste Rodin’s death in 1917 and some 68 years after the listed date given in the 1971 AUGUSTE RODIN catalogue.
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
On page 499 of the Musee Rodin’s 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin by their former curator Antoinette Le Normand Romain, Large Clenched Hand with Imploring Figure is listed as: “twelve casts by E. Godard, between 1969 and 1977, no. 1, © 1969, Los Angeles , Cantor Col.”[FN 88]
Some 30 years later, on page 188 in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation’s published 2001 Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession catalogue, this same Large Clenched Left hand with Figure is now disclosed as: “cast 1/12 in 1970” some 53 years after Auguste Rodin’s death in 1917 and yet nonsensically listed as: “Signed and numbered A. Rodin/No. 1.”[FN 89]
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
One of those so-called “bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin” titled the “Hand of Rodin Holding Torso (Main de Rodin avec Torso, 1917 bronze”[FN 95] in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Art’s 1971 AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection and The B. G. Cantor Art Foundation catalogue and exhibition was actually posthumously cast in 1968, by the Georges Rudier foundry, from a lifetime plaster cast taken from the hand of an invalid Auguste Rodin shortly before his death and posthumously combined with plaster cast of a female torso by Auguste Rodin.
CAST OF THE SCULPTOR’S HAND
This is confirmed, on page 210 of the Musee Rodin’s published 2004 RODIN catalogue by the Musee Rodin curator Ralphael Masson and archivist Veronique Mattiussi, where the authors wrote: “Shortly before Rodin’s death, {Musee du Luxembourg curator and future Musee Rodin director} Benedite asked that a studio assistant make a cast of the sculptor’s hand.”[FN 96]
NOT SIGNED OR INSCRIBED
On page 637 in the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s published 1976 Sculpture of Auguste Rodin catalogue, where for the same titled plaster Hand of Rodin Holding a Torso, the author John Tancock wrote: “This composite work, made from a life cast and an original work - [was] not signed or inscribed.”[FN 97]
Yet, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collections’ so-called Hand of Rodin Holding Torso has a “A Rodin” inscription [see detail above], despite Auguste Rodin never signing it.
So, the very thing Auguste Rodin denied ever doing -casting from life-, as he was accused in 1877 with his Age of Bronze[FN 98], was credited in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Art and the B. G. Cantor Art Foundation’s 1971 AUGUSTE RODIN exhibition catalogue as one of the “bronze sculptures by Auguste Rodin.”
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
Auguste Rodin's Balzac commission was rejected by the committee of the Societe des Gens de Letteres and was never cast in bronze during his lifetime, The vast majority of Auguste Rodin studies, if not totality, were cast posthumously. The lone exception seems to have been the Head of Balzac. [FN 107]
7. 1959 EXHIBITION OF HIRSHHORN FORGERIES
On October 25-December 6, 1959, the Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn exhibition, held at then William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, contained at least 48 non-disclosed posthumous forgeries -falsely- attributed to Renoir, Daumier, Degas, Gauguin, Gonzalez, Kollwitz, De La Fresnaye, Lehmbruck, Maillol, Mattisse, Barlach and Rodin, ironically -not- seen by those dead artists in their time.
RENOIR FORGERIES
One of these 48 non-disclosed posthumous forgeries [above] is titled: Boy with a Flute, one of a triad of forgeries [the other two: Dancer with a Tambourine I and Dancer with a Tambourine II], all falsely attributed to a dead Pierre-Auguste Renoir [d 1919], that were actually posthumously cast in terracotta and bronze from plasters forged by the sculptor Louis Fernand Morel using Renoir's’ drawings.
Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn:
On pages 17-18 in the 1947 Renoir Sculptor biography by Paul Haesaerts, author wrote: Ambroise Vollard “still had to persuade Renoir, whose scruples persisted, to put himself seriously to work. It was not easy. Poor Renoir, perfectly aware of his condition, could do nothing but hold out his twisted, inert hands and say: 'But my dear friend, don't you see the state I'm in?'"[FN 109]
If there was any doubt that Pierre Auguste Renoir understood that he was involved in a scheme with the art dealer Ambroise Vollard, forger Richard Guino and later Louis Fernand Morel, the art critic George Besson answered that question when he quoted Renoir stating: “‘I no longer want to be the author of sculptures made in my absence, from my old sketches.’ Another concern being: ‘Vollard has the stamp of my signature. Will he use it, like a brand name, on all sorts of pieces, some of which may be successful but which I do not know about?’”[FN 110]
ALL THE CASTINGS OF THESE RELIEFS ARE POSTHUMOUS
Pierre Auguste Renoir had every right to wary of Ambroise Vollard. This is confirmed on page 352, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Philadelphia Museum of Art edited Renoir in the 20th Century catalogue, where Musee d’Orsay Conservateure du patrimoine, administratrice adjointe de la RMN, en charge de la politique scientifique Emmanuelle Heran wrote: “It was the sculptor Louis Fernand Morel who assisted Renoir in the execution of this triad” and “According to Haesaerts, Morel worked in fresh plaster, not clay. All the castings of these reliefs, whether in terracotta or bronze, are posthumous. ”[FN 111]
Therefore,
would the inscription of “Renoir” name to posthumously cast
terracottas and bronzes and the misrepresentation of that posthumously
inscribed name as a signature be considered -counterfeit-?
DAUMIER FORGERIES
Honore-Victorin Daumier -never- worked in bronze. This factual perspective is confirmed on page 253 of Pierre Kjellberg’s 1994 Bronzes OF THE 19TH CENTURY, Dictionary of Sculptors, where the author wrote Honore Daumier's "sculpted work is better known thanks to the bronzes" but “he never saw them, and no doubt never anticipated them.”[FN 115]
Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn:
All so-called bronzes attributed to Honore Daumier (d 1879) were posthumously forged between 1891 and the 1960's.
This is additionally confirmed in a National Gallery of Art's "2000 biographie of Honoré Daumier" by Suzanne Glover Lindsay, where the author wrote: "The many posthumous campaigns to serialize Daumier's sculpture, which lasted well into the 1960s, have provided a subtly altered view of that aspect of his work."[FN 116]
DEGAS FORGERIES
It is amazing how many in the museum/academic world, much less the huge majority of the public does not have a clue that Edgar Degas never cast his sculptures in bronze (much less brass) and expressly did not want his sculptures cast into bronze.
Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn:
This is further confirmed in the National Gallery of Art’s published 1998 Degas at the Races catalogue. On page 180 in Daphne S. Barbour’s and Shelly G. Sturman’s “The Horse in Wax and Bronze” essay, these authors wrote: “Degas never cast his sculpture in bronze, claiming that it was a “tremendous responsibility to leave anything behind in bronze -- the medium is for eternity.”[FN 118]
All bronzes, falsely attributed to a dead Edgar Degas, may actually be made of brass according to the National Gallery of Art’s published 2010 Edgar Degas Sculpture catalogue.
“Brass is the term used for alloys of copper and zinc in a solid solution. Typically it is more than 50% copper and from 5 to 20% zinc, in comparison to bronze which is principally an alloy of copper and tin.”[FN 119]
This metallurgical discovery is confirmed on page 26 of the National Gallery of Art’s published 2010 Edgar Degas Sculptures catalogue, in the “Degas’ Bronzes Analyzed” essay by Shelly G. Sturman and Daphne S. Barbour. In part, the authors wrote: “Analysis of the elemental surface composition of the National Gallery sculptures was performed using X R F, a noninvasive technique. An alloy of copper and zinc with low to medium tin and traces of lead was used to cast all the sculptures. Results were also compared to X R F analysis undertaken at the Norton Simon Museum on the bronze modeles and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on some of the serial A set as well. - Bronze is a misnomer for these sculptures, because they are all cast from brass (copper and zinc with tin). But as they are universally referred to as “Degas bronzes,” we will continue to use that term in a nontechnical sense throughout this discussion.”[FN 120]
On page 1015 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -misnomer- is defined as: “A mistake in naming a person, place of thing, esp. in a legal instrument.”[FN 121]
Unfortunately, the National Gallery of Art, Shelly G. Sturman and Daphne S. Barbour have a plethora of misnomers throughout their essay, not to mention the entire catalogue, one of which is the constant referral to posthumous bronzes, much less in brass attributed to Edgar Degas, as “sculpture.”
The dead don’t sculpt.
The National Gallery of Art, Shelly G. Sturman and Daphne S. Barbour would seem to believe and are acting on that belief the practice of perpetuating mistakes, with or without intent, is just a misnomer.
All brass but no Degas.
GAUGUIN FORGERY
GONZALEZ FORGERY
KOLLWITZ FORGERIES
FRESNAYE FORGERY
Roger De La Fresnaye died in 1925. The non-disclosed forgery, falsely attributed to Roger De La Fresnaye, was posthumously cast some 23 to 25 years after the artist's death.
LEHMBRUCK FORGERIES
MAILLOL FORGERIES
MATISSE FORGERIES
RODIN FORGERIES
SCULPTURE IN OUR TIME EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art a.k.a Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art was not the only venue for the touring Sculpture in Our Time by Joseph H. Hirshhorn 1959-1960 exhibition of non-disclosed posthumous forgeries. This shameful exhibition history[FN 122] is as follows:
Gaston Lachaise, American, 1882-1935, b. France, Bas-Relief Woman,
1934; cast 1993, Bronze, ed. 2/8, 86 x 50 x 3 3/8 inches (218.44 x 127 x
8.57 cm), Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust through the George H.
and
Elizabeth O. Davis Fund, 99-4, This work is copyrighted. Consult
copyright information for permission to reproduce., Location: Gallery
KCSP
http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/CollectionDatabase.cfm?id=145&theme=American
NON-DISCLOSED FORGERY
8. NELSON-ATKINS' COLLECTION OF OTHER FORGERIES
The above titled Bas-Relief Woman bronze attributed to Gaston Lacahise in Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's collection, was cast in 1993, some 58 years after Gaston Lachaise's death in 1935.
As documented before, on page 70 in HarperCollins’ published 1991 Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques by Ralph Mayer, -cast- is defined as: “to reproduce an object, such as a piece of sculpture, by means of a MOLD.”[FN 125]
Therefore, at best, the posthumously cast Bas-Relief Woman bronze is a reproduction.
In October 1935, Gason Lachaise "died suddenly after being rushed to the hospital after bleeding from a tooth distraction that had ceased to staunch. Some later speculated that leukemia was the cause; whatever the diagnosis, the doctors were unable to save him."[FN 126]
J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM DEFINES COUNTERFEIT
J. Paul Getty Museum, under their Getty Research, defines -counterfeit- as: "forgeries (derivative objects)" with a note stating: "Reproductions of whole objects when the intention is to deceive; includes sculptures cast without the artist's permission."[FN 127]
Tragic as Gaston Lachaise death was in 1935, 58 years later in 1993 the dead don't give permission.
As an AAMD member and board member, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art director Julian Zugazagoitia endorses the ethical guidelines mandated in their published 2001 Professional Practices in Art Museum manuel.
In part, but not limited to, on page 31 under the subtitle -Reproductions of Works of Art- in the Professional Practices in Art Museum manuel, it states: “misleading marketing of reproductions, has created such widespread confusion as to require clarification in order to maintain professional standards. - museums must clearly indicate through the use of integral markings on the objects, as well as signs, labels and advertising, that these items are reproductions - signatures, edition numbers, and/or foundry marks on sculpture must not appear on the reproduction.”[FN 128]
The above titled Bas-Relief Woman bronze, posthumously cast in 1993, is listed as having an edition number "2/8."
ca.
1810-20, 1st edition, 1863 (Harris III, 1.a.), 80 numbered plates,
etching, aquatint, and other intaglio media; engraved titles, Illus.:
Pl. 7 (41) Que Valor! (What Courage!), Etching, aquatint, drypoint,
burin and burnisher, Pl., 6 1/16" x 8 1/8" (155 x 207 mm); on sheet 9
3/4" x 13 1/4" (248 x 337 mm), Inscr. (u.l.c.): 7; (i.i.c.): vestige of
"41", Hoffmann 145-224; Delteil 120-199; Harris 121-200, Watermarks:
Printed title page watermarked El Arte en Espana; pl., J.G.O and
palmette, Provenance: Julius Hoffmann (Lugt 1264, with Alden galleries,
Kansas City, Purchase: Nelson Trust [38-30/1-62, 64-81], page 143, Prints, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
NON-DISCLOSED POSTHUMOUS REWORKED AND ALTERED FORGERY
In 1863, the Royal Academy [located in Madrid, Spain] acquired 80 of Francisco Goya y Lucientes "Disasters of War" etching plates and decided arbitrarily to rework and alter those plates with lines, creating new compositions, aquatint darkening Goya's vision of bringing light to Napoleon's atrocities and titles correcting misspellings by Goya to fit the arrogant sensibilities of mid-19th-century. Those 80 reworked and altered plates were subsequently used by the printer Laurenciano Potenciano to forge 500 posthumous impressions totaling some 40,000. Those reworked and altered plates were subsequently steel plated and used to forge some 40,000 or more additional posthumous impressions well into the late 20th-century.
Francisco Goya y Lucientes died in 1828.
It is 80 of these forged posthumous impressions from posthumously reworked and altered plates that the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is falsely promoting as original works of visual art ie., etchings by Francisco Goya y Lucientes.
Rhetorically the dead don't etch.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, in their published 1996 Prints, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art catalogue, the museum attempts to perpetuate the misconception that because Goya's Disasters of War plates 65-90 were "condemning clergy and government - the Disasters could not feasibly be published."[FN 129]
Fortunately, the British Museum has in their collection a complete authentic set of the 80 Disasters of War etching proofs, printed by the artsit Francisco Goya Y Lucientes, that in contrast to the posthumously altered and darken posthumous impressions, seems to be an attempt by the artist to bring light to the Napoleonic atrocities.
![[BritishMuseumWhatCourage.jpg]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhaXItiiYOxdTrtEi0ZMetX8DdrgUs4lzpQmc9icaajNnVwi_Fq65Y4XJmA-cQ1jiJzIQRcipEWR5MtKwJc3nCUWHScSZdm3Zh5mu90YPEzEsqWkBlxF8BTb9JsaxdHFiuwpnH/s400/BritishMuseumWhatCourage.jpg)
"Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War) / Que valor! (What courage!), Plate 7: young woman standing on mound of corpses, lighting cannon fuse; from a bound album of working proofs, presented by the artist to Ceán Bermúde, 1810-12, Etching, drypoint, burin and burnisher, AN37955001, © The Trustees of the British Museum, Department: Prints & Drawings, Registration number: 1975,1025.421.9, Bibliographic reference Delteil 126 Harris 127.I.3"
http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=1333694&partid=1&searchText=goya&fromDate=1810&fromADBC=ad&toDate=1900&toADBC=ad&numpages=10&images=on&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx¤tPage=4
LIFETIME ETCHING BY FRANCISCO GOYA Y LUCIENTES
POSTHUMOUS REWORKING AND ALTERATION
They had no shame.
![[Faun+lrgwork_02.jpg]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5EktjF8DyRLeMupK2kHoEAD4CwgtQ0yv4920yphuhIbnlhwn71093s8g2DbWnCGQbAvUvLpaFsB5bh1pvinP9sIJZXKVXRG95q144luRLbx5zRBzaTr6mUiXmfK5NhXAQy4VQiw/s1600/Faun+lrgwork_02.jpg)
9. PRECEDENTS OF MUSEUM FRAUD
On page 1195 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -precedent- is defined as: “A decided case that furnishes a basis for determining later cases involving similar facts or issues.”[FN 133]
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s non-disclosed posthumous forgeries in their collection and exhibitions are not an exception. Almost the entire museum and auction house industry is riddled with non-disclosed posthumous forgeries. The Art Institute of Chicago found that out when a non-disclosed posthumous forgery in their collection was exposed by law enforcement and made public.
The Faun ceramic, initially attributed to Paul Gauguin [d 1903] by Sotheby's auction house and purchased for $125,000 by the Art Institute of Chicago in 1997, was discovered by Scotland Yard in their 2007 investigation of another forgery to be non-disclosed posthumous [1990’s] forgery by convicted British forger Shaun Greenhalgh and the Greenhalgh family.[FN 134]
After being informed by Scotland Yard, the Art Institute of Chicago posted on their website, a pdf press release, in part, stating: “The Art Institute of Chicago has recently concluded that The Faun, a sculpture acquired by the museum in 1997 as a work by Paul Gauguin, is a creative, well-researched
forgery of a lost work by the artist produced by the recently sentenced Greenhalgh family from Bolton, England.”[FN 135]
Yet, in a New York Times' published December 13, 2007 “Work Believed a Gauguin Turns Out to Be a Forgery” article by Carol Vogel, the reporter quoted the Art Institute of Chicago’s director James Cuno stating: “It is both a good sculpture and crafty concept.”[FN 136]
Since sculpture is an original work of visual art created by the -living- sculptor, it is very troubling for the Art Institute of Chicago director James Cuno to refer to a forgery as an original work of visual art ie., sculpture, particular since as an Association of Art Museum Directors member, this director endorses the College Art Association’s ethics on sculptural reproductions which in part states “any transfer into new material unless specifically condoned by the artist, is to be considered inauthentic or
counterfeit and should not be display or exhibited as a work of art.”[FN 137]
In a Chicago WLS-TV ABC7 News broadcast December 12, 2007 story by Ravi Baichwal, posted on its’ website, it stated: “Shortly after the Greenhalgh conviction in November, AIC president James Cuno was horrified to learn from Scotland Yard and Sotheby's that something in his galleries wasn't as valuable as the sculptures of Gauguin's contemporaries-- like [Dalou] and Rodin, nor the Gauguin's paintings. "There's nothing about its appearance, nothing about its manufacture that raised any doubts about the work. It looked like Gauguin, it looked like things he made," said James Cuno, Art Institute of Chicago.”[FN 138]
In Paul Duro and Michael Greenhalgh’s published Essential Art History, -connoisseurship- is defined as: “that of the art expert able to distinguish between the authentic and non-authentic, for example between an original and a copy.”[FN 139]
In the Chicago Tribune's published December 21, 2006 “Taken in by a Complete Fake” article by Charles Storch and Alan G. Artner, the reporters quoted the former head of the Art Institute of Chicago’s department of European decorative arts, sculpture and ancient art Ian Wardropper stating: "It came with provenance completely believable, - Should we have checked with Scotland Yard whether the consignor was a descendant of O'Connor's? Maybe so, but we don't usually ask for that."[FN 140]
Yet, the Art Institute of Chicago’s -Mission- would have the public believe and act on that belief that it: “collects, preserves, and interprets works of art of the highest quality, representing the world's diverse artistic traditions, for the inspiration and education of the public and in accordance with our profession's highest ethical standards and practices.”[FN 141]
So, if the Art Institute of Chicago, on occasion, has trouble determining, much less asking, whether something is an original or a reproduction, much less a forgery, what is the museum’s difficulty when the documentation makes it obvious?
On the Art Institute of Chicago’s -Collection- website, the museum lists two Jules Aime Dalou[s] as: Bacchus Consoling Ariadne, bronze, “cast 1903/07 - Signed: Dalou” with the “Foundry stamp: “cire perdue Hebrard,”[FN 142] and Allegory of Science, wax, “c.1886” date and “Provenance A.A. Hebrard, Paris, before 1978.”[FN 143]
Since, Jules Aime Dalou died in 1902, who cast the non-disclosed posthumous forgery in bronze with an counterfeit “Dalou” signature and wax forgery?
This is answered on page 234 of Pierre Kjellberg’s 1994 Bronzes OF THE 19TH CENTURY, Dictionary of Sculptors, where the author wrote: “The executors of Dalou’s Will made the decision to authorize the reproductions of these works, according to them in order to enhance the glory of the artist and insure the revenues of the Orphelinat des Arts (which they did) and “These posthumous bronzes were first cast by the lost wax method by Hebrard.”[FN 144]
So, what would Jules Dalou possibly think of the posthumous reproduction of his work?
This is also answered, on page 234 of Pierre Kjellberg’s 1994 Bronzes OF THE 19TH CENTURY, Dictionary of Sculptors, where the author wrote: “Before enumerating the works and the facts of Dalou’s career. it is important to determine what significance the numerous bronzes carrying his signature had for the artist’s work. Details indicate that the large majority were executed after his death. Except for the some subjects cast under his control during his visit to London, and later, between 1898 and 1899, two or three figurines and the bust of Henri de Rochefort (as well as some rare castings in sandstone made by Haviland in Limogesi, Dalou never envisioned his works being reproduced in material other than the one had initially chosen. Moreover, he opposed it: “A work,” he said, “is made for one material and one dimension; to change it is to distort it.”[FN 145]
The auction house Sotheby’s, on their website, defines -provenance- as: "The history ownership of the property being sold. This can be an important part of the authentication process as it establishes the chain for ownership back (if possible) to the time the piece was made.”[FN 146]
Since the Art Institute of Chicago’s listed -Provenance- for their two so-called Dalou{s} are respectively listed as: “Michael Hall Fine Arts, New York, by 1982 [according to invoices and copies of shipping receipts in curatorial file]; sold to the Art Institute, 1983” and “A. A. Hébrard, Paris, before 1978,”[FN 147] how can it be attributed to Jules Dalou since pieces in question were posthumously forged?
As a member of the Association of Art Museum Directors, the Art Institute of Chicago and its’ director endorses the College Art Association's ethical guidelines on sculptural reproduction which, in part, states: “any transfer into new material unless specifically condoned by the artist is to be considered inauthentic or counterfeit.”[FN 148]
Therefore, in referring to The Faun forgery, are we to suspend disbelief or just believe when the Art Institute of Chicago’s director James Cuno is quoted stating: "we make thousands of decisions like this annually. Once in a lifetime something like this happens."[FN 149]
The Art Institute of Chicago’s collection, in addition to the two non-disclosed posthumous “Dalou” forgeries, contains well over 100 non-disclosed posthumous forgeries, falsely attributed to Barye, Chapu, Daumier, Degas, Duchamp-Villon, Gauguin, Goya, Rodin and others. For confirmation, cut and paste this link: http://garyarseneau.blogspot.com/2008/01/thirteen-fakes-in-art-institute-
of.html
On page 506 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -double standard- is defined as: "a set of principles permitting greater opportunity or greater lenience for one class of people than for another."[FN 150]
In
the New York Times' published December 13, 2007 “Work Believed a
Gauguin Turns Out to Be a Forgery” article by Carol Vogel, the reporter
quoted of Sotheby’s deputy chairwoman [in London] Melanie Clore stating:
“Maybe once every decade you have something like this - It’s very
unusual to have such a sophisticated forger.”[FN 151]
Yet, just seven months later on July 2, 2008 in a Paris auction, Sotheby's auctioned a non-disclosed posthumous bronze forgery titled Harlequin, falsely attributed to Julio Gonzalez [d 1942], who never cast in bronze, much less signed it.
The National Gallery of Scotland has in their collection a non-disclosed posthumous forgery titled Harlequin, falsely attributed to dead Julio Gonzalez. The museum turns reality on its’ head when lists a “1929-1930 (posthumous cast)” date as if a something can be posthumous cast and still predate Julio Gonzalez’ death in 1942. Then to go from the ridiculous to the sublime, it lists a definition of cast, for this non-disclosed posthumous forgery, as if you can make ”a sculpture by use of a mould to make copy.”
Say, what? Sculptures created by the artist versus copies not by the artist are not interchangeable, much less the same.
This posthumous skewing of Julio Gonzalez’s oeuvre is further addressed in the “Truth to Material: Bronze, on the Reproducibility of Truth” essay by Alexandra Parigoris in the published 1997 Sculpture and Its Reproductions edited by Anthony Hughes and Erich Ranfft. On page 141 of her essay, Alexandra Parigoris wrote: “The case of Gonzalez’s posthumous casts is both familiar and particular. It is familiar in that these works are produced by his heirs, allegedly acting according to the wishes of the artist, who, in their words, would have cast all his works including the irons if he could have afforded it. Its particularity resides in the fact that the resulting bronzes are valid before the law as it stands only if the forged and welded metal originals are regarded as platres de travail (working plasters used for casting); in other words, if their status is thus altered.”[FN 152]
Julio Gonzalez never casting in bronze is additionally confirmed in the Legal Guide for Visual Artists by Tad Crawford, On page 223, the author wrote: “A not uncommon event is the authorization of reproductions by the beneficiaries who receive the work. For example, the heirs of sculptor Julio Gonzalez allowed posthumous bronze replicas of the sculptures to be cast and sold. Not only had Gonzalez always used iron as the material for his sculptures, but in some cases the bronze replicas were sold without any indication of their being made posthumously.”[FN 153]
On
the Conseil de la Sculpture du Quebec’s website, the term -Exemplaire
d’Artiste- is defined as: “SPECIMEN Of ARTIST: exempailres intended to
the artist and for his collaborators and in addition carried out to
specimens of pulling lawful or envisaged intended for the trade. Each
specimen is marked letters EA followed by the identification number
registers in Roman numerals, the numerator indicating the number of the
specimen of artist and the denominator, the size of the pulling of the
specimens of artists. Except trade, only used as specimens, HC are
registered.”[FN 154]
Additionally, the Conseil de la Sculpture du Quebec defines an -original work of art- as a: “single work or work whose pulling is limited to a lawful number of specimens and of which each is numbered, including the specimens of artist and except trade.”[FN 155]
In other words an -Exemplaire d’Artiste- is an “original work of art” that is inscribed “EA” with Roman Numerals (ex. I/IV) which signify its’ edition limitation.
So, what are the potential consequences for museums, auction houses, academia and the like for playing fast and loose with reality of those dead artists’ true oeuvre, much less for living artists and their ability to compete in the marketplace and the public ability to give informed consent without full and honest disclosure?
10. LAW, ETHICS AND THE VISUAL ARTS
On page 816-817 of Kluwer Law International’s published 1998 Law, Ethics and the Visual Arts, Third Edition by John Henry Merryman and Albert E. Elsen wrote about “Counterfeit Art.”[FN 156]
Under the subtitle “Truth,” the authors wrote: “The most serious harm that good counterfeits do is to confuse and misdirect the search for valid learning. The counterfeit objects falsifies history and misdirects inquiry.”[FN 157]
Additionally, under the subtitle “Resource Allocation,” the authors wrote: “Museum and art historical resources are always limited. What gets acquired, displayed, conserved and studied is the result of a continuous process of triage, in which some objects can be favoured only at the expenses of others. Counterfeit objects distort the process.”[FN 158]
Finally, under the subtitle “Fraud,” the authors wrote: “There remains the most obvious harm of all: counterfeit cultural objects are instruments of fraud. Most are created in order to deceive and defraud, but even “innocent” counterfeits can, and often will, be so used. The same considerations of justice and social order that make deliberate fraud of others kinds criminal apply equally to fraud through the medium of counterfeit art.”[FN 159]
CONCLUSION
What needs to be accomplished is the full and honest disclosure of all reproductions as -reproductions- by all museums, auction houses and art dealers. If the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation will give full and honest disclosure for all reproductions as: -reproductions- it would allow museum patrons to give informed consent on whether they wish to attend an exhibit of reproductions, much less forgeries, not to mention whether to join and support the museum as a member for prices ranging from $65 for general membership to $1,000 to 100,000 “tax deductible gifts" membership.
But if these objects are not reproductions by definition and law, but -forgeries- with or without counterfeit signatures or inscriptions applied, much less posthumous, to create the illusion the artist created it, much less approved and signed it, then serious consequences of law may come into play for those who chose to misrepresent these -forgeries- for profit.
The reputations and legacy of living and past artists, present and future museum art patrons and the art-buying public deserve the re-establishment of the obvious; that the living presence and participation of the artist to once again be required, as it always should have been, to create the piece of art attributable to the artist if indeed it is attributed to them, much less purported to have been signed by them.
FOOTNOTES:
1. ”The Thinker was made in 1880 and it is the oldest sculpture in the Park.” http://www.nelson-atkins.org/desktopguide/scriptsup.cfm?id=56316&object=326&col=Kansas%20City%20Sculture%20Park&supid=306 “Auguste Rodin, French, 1840-1917, Adam, 1880, Bronze, 6 feet 5 inches x 29 inches x 29 inches (195.58 x 73.66 x 73.66 cm), Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust, 55-70, Location: Gallery Sculpture Hall” http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/CollectionDatabase_ImageView.cfm?id=678&theme=Euro
2. © 1999 By West Group, ISBN: 0314022864
3. http://www.nelson-atkins.org/welcome/Mission.cfm
4. p 290, "Rodin and His Founders" essay by former Musee Rodin curator Monique Laurent in the National Gallery of Art's published 1981 Rodin Rediscovered catalogue ISBN: 0-89468-001-3 (pbk) The former Musee Rodin curator wrote: "starting in March 1902, the uninterrupted production of the firm concerned in reality the activity of Alexis's son Eugene - Eugene Rudier remained until his death in 1952, the sole founder for the museum, still using the mark of his father Alexis. This mark would continue until Georges Rudier, Eugene's nephew, took over the directing of the business and made casts under his own name."
5. Library of Congress Catalog No: 99-072906 ISBN: 9655319- 5-3
6. p 241, RODIN by Raphael Masson and Veronique Mattiussi, © Editions Flammarion, Paris-Musee Rodin, 2004, ISBN (Edition Flammarion): 2-0803-0445-3
7. © 1999 By West Group, ISBN: 0314022864
8. Ibid
9. www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#101
10.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/studio33/listen_.cfm?id=56316&object=326col=Kansas%20City%20Sculture%20Park
11.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/CollectionDatabase_ImageView.cfm?id=999999theme=KCSP&Audio=280
12. 1999 By West Group, ISBN: 0314022864
13. Ibid
14.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/CollectionDatabase_ImageView.cm?id=678&theme=Euro
15.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/CollectionDatabase_ImageView.cm?id=5631&theme=KCSP
16.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/rodin/rediscover.cfm
17.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions /rodin/rediscover.cfm
18.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/rodin/rediscover.cfm
19.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/rodin/rediscover.cfm
20. 1971, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, ASIN B00070XCEO
21.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/support/Membership.cfm
22. © 1980, ISBN: 0-394-43500-1
23.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/support/Membership.cfm
24.www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/rodin/rodininstallvideo.cfm
25. © 1999 By West Group, ISBN: 0314022864
26. www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_new=40423&int_sec=2
27. Copyright 2001 by the Association of Art Museum Directors, ISBN: 1-880974-02-9
28. Ibid
29. Published in 2001 by the Association of Art Museum Directors, 41 East 65th Street, New York, New York 10021, ISBN: 1-880974-02-9
30. www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#101
31. Ibid
32. http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#106a
33. National Gallery of Art's published 1981 Rodin Rediscovered catalogue ISBN: 0-89468-001-3 (pbk)
34. Library of Congress Catalog No:99-072906, ISBN: 9655319-5-3
35. www.musee-rodin.fr/welcome.htm
HOW TO FIND THIS MUSEE RODIN QUOTE:
First, go to the www.musee-rodin.fr/welcome.htm website,
then under “Contents on the left column click on “Collections,”
once on new screen click on the “Meudon” button,
then scroll down new screen till you reach the photograph of
“Assemblage of two figures of Even and crouching women”
and then count fourteen lines down for the quote.
36. Copyright © Bena Mayer, Executrix of the Estate of Ralph Mayer, 1991, ISBN :0-06-461012-8 (pbk.)
37. Ibid
38. National Gallery of Art's published 1981 Rodin Rediscovered catalogue ISBN: 0-89468-001-3 (pbk)
39. Ibid
40.http://www.getty.edu/vow/AATFullDisplay?find=counterfeit&logic=AND¬e=& english=N&prev_page=1&subjectid=300121305
41.http://www.cantorfoundation.org/resources/laws-govern-casting-rodins-work
42.http://www.cantorfoundation.org/Rodin/Bronze/rbrz.html
43.http://www.cantorfoundation.org/resources/laws-govern-casting-rodins-work
44.www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#101
45. Copyright © 1988 by Ste Nile des Editions du Chene, ISBN: 0-850-1252-4
46. Ibid
47. Excerpt from: “SUMMARY: AUTHORIZED POSTHUMOUS CASTING OF THE WORK OF AUGUSTE RODIN” paper distributed by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation [Source: News Media]
47. National Gallery of Art's published 1981 Rodin Rediscovered catalogue, ISBN: 0-89468-001-3 (pbk)
49. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
50. Ibid
51. p 175, Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession, Copyright © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN: 1-85894 143 1 hardback
52. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
53. © 1999 By West Group, ISBN: 0314022864
54. www.consulfrance-chicago.org/IMG/pdf/Rodin_Exhibition.pdf
55. Ibid
56. http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/rodin/
57. www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#101
58. Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession, Copyright © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN :1-85894 143 1 hardback
59. http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/Exhibitions.cfm?id=127
60. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
61. National Gallery of Art’s published 1981 Rodin Rediscovered ISBN 0-89468-001-3 (pbk)
62. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
63. Volume 1, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
64. Ibid
65. Copyright © Bena Mayer, Executrix of the Estate of Ralph Mayer, 1991, ISBN :0-06-461012-8 (pbk.)
66. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
67. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
68. Volume 1, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
69. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
70. Volume 1, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
71. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
72. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
73. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
74. www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/rodin/rodininstallvideo.cfm
75. Ibid
76. Copyright © 1980 BY RANDOM HOUSE, INC., ISBN: 0-394043500-1
77. Forward, AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection and The B. G. Cantor Art Foundation published by William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts 1971, ASIN: B00070XCEO
78. p 70, of Ralph Mayer’s 1999 HarperCollins Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Copyright © Bena Mayer, Executrix of the Estate of Ralph Mayer, 1991, ISBN: 0-06-461012-8 (pbk.)
79. Copyright © 1988 by Ste Nile des Editions du Chene, ISBN: 0-8050-1252-4
80. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
81. Ibid
82. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
83. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
84. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
85. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
86. Ibid
87. ibid
88. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
89. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
90. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
91. Ibid
92. Ibid
93. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
94. Ibid
95. “47. HAND OF RODIN WITH TORSO, (Main de Rodin avec Torse), 1917, Bronze, 7 x 9 x 5 1/2 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection,” AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection and The B. G. Cantor Art Foundation published by William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts 1971, ASIN: B00070XCEO
96. ISBN: (Musee Rodin) 2-9014-2858-1
97. Copyright © 1976 by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, ISBN: 0-87923-157-2
98. Ibid, p 348, Philadelphia Museum of Art’s published 1976 Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, the author John Tancock wrote: “The Age of Bronze was the work intended to “establish his reputation,” hence the bitterness over the false accusations and the doggedness of his attempts to prove himself.”
99. Musee Rodin board meeting, 1926. The museum itself used them as gifts on several occasions to thank certain collaborators, such as the "former pupil of the Louvre" whohad come to install "with great taste and care" the antique ceramic cabinets at the museum in 1945, or the lawyer who helped the museum win the Rudier succession case in 1965.
103. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
104. Ibid
105. Ibid
106. Ibid
107. p 177, 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin by Antoinette Normand-Romain, Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
108. p 16, Renoir Sculptor by Paul Haesaerts, Published 1947, Printed by V. Van Dieren and Co and J. E. Buschmann, Printed in Belgium
109. Ibid
110. p 75 of the Renoir in the 20th Century catalogue, in the “Renoir the Sculptor?” essay by Conservateur du patrimoine, adminstratrice adjointe de la RMN, en charge de la politique scientifique Emmanuelle Heran, Edited by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Philadelphia © Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfidern, and authors, ISBN: 978-3-7757-2539-2
111. Ibid
112. Renoir Sculptor by Paul Haesaerts, Published 1947, Printed by V. Van Dieren and Co and J. E. Buschmann, Printed in Belgium
113. © 1999 By West Group, ISBN: 0314022864
114. Ibid
116. http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/tbio?tperson=1209
122.http://hirshhorn.si.edu/search.asp?search=sculpture+in+our+time
123. Copyright © 1967 by Dover Publications, Inc., ISBN: 0-486-21872-4)
124. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-3000-5462-9
125. Copyright © Bena Mayer, Executrix of the Estate of Ralph Mayer, 1991, ISBN :0-06-461012-8 (pbk.)
126.http://www.mentalcontagion.com/mcarchive/examinations/examinations0503.html
127.http://www.getty.edu/vow/AATFullDisplay?find=counterfeit&logic=AND¬e=& english=N&prev_page=1&subjectid=300121305
128. Copyright 2001 by the Association of Art Museum Directors, ISBN: 1-880974-02-9
129. © 1996 by the Trustees of the Nelson Gallery Foundation, ISBN 0-942614-26-7
130. Copyright © 1967 by Dover Publications, Inc., ISBN: 0-486-21872-4)
131. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-3000-5462-9
132. Copyright 2001 by the Association of Art Museum Directors, ISBN: 1-880974-02-9
133. © 1999 By West Group, ISBN: 0314022864
134. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Faun
135. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/arts/13gauguin.html
136. Ibid
137. www.collegeart.org/guidelines/sculpture
138. http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=5829654
139. In Paul Duro and Michael Greenhalgh’s published Essential Art History, “connoisseurship” is defined as: “that of the art expert able to distinguish between the authentic and non-authentic, for example between an original and a copy.”
140.http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2007-12-16/news/0712140412_1_george-greenhalgh-paul-gauguin-claude-emile-schuffenecker
141. http://www.artic.edu/aic/aboutus/wip/index.html
142.www.artic.edu/aic/collections/citi/object?id=100051&artist=dalou&keyword=
143. Ibid
144. Copyright © 1994 by Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., ISBN: 0-8109-0804-2
145. Ibid
146. www.sothebys.com
147.www.artic.edu/aic/collections/citi/object?id=100051&artist=dalou&keyword=
148. www.collegeart.org/guidelines/sculpture
149. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Faun
150. © 1999 By West Group, ISBN: 0314022864
151. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/arts/13gauguin.html
152. Copyright © Reaktion Books, Ltd, 1997, ISBN: 18 61890 02 8
153. Allworth Press; 4th edition (January 1, 1999), ISBN-10: 1581150032, ISBN-13: 978-1581150032
154. www.conseildela sculpture.ca
155. Ibid
156. © Kluwer Law International 1998, ISBN: 90-411-0697-9
157. Ibid
158. Ibid
159. Ibid
ADDENDUM:
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s Sales Promotion for Membership
SOURCE: http://www.nelson-atkins.org/support/Membership.cfm
Friends of Art
Our general membership group. Friends keep the Museum’s collection free every day for everyone. Members enjoy attractive benefits and enhanced art experiences starting at just $65!
Society of Fellows
Premiere sustainers of the collection. Fellows are dedicated to preserving the Nelson-Atkins’ most important asset and ensuring its enjoyment for future generations. Privileges include private events, discounts on Museum venue rentals and travel opportunities.
Patron $1,000 ($83.33/mo)
Tax-deductible amount $940
Unlimited free exhibition tickets, and 25 percent off Museum venue rental fees. Fellows enjoy reciprocal member privileges to 300 art museums.
Sustaining $2,000 ($166.65/mo)
Tax-deductible amount $1,940
In addition to Patron benefits, receive curator consultation on art acquisitions or your private collection, and 35 percent off Museum venue rental fees.
Nelson Society $3,000 ($250.00/mo)
Tax-deductible amount $2,910
Go behind-the-scenes or meet the artist with special invitations to upper-level Fellows events. Nelson Society members also receive 50 percent off Museum venue rental fees.
Benefactor $5,000
Tax-deductible amount $4,820
All Nelson Society benefits, plus an elegant, complimentary lunch for 4 guests with the Director or curator and a beautiful, full-color Museum catalogue. Benefactors will have the opportunity to host an event in one of five rental venues and the Museum will waive the rental venue fees (applicable to Museum operating hours).
Ambassador $10,000
Tax-deductible amount $9,700
Our premiere membership level features a private tour and complimentary reception for 8 guests. You also receive personal ticket assistance for special exhibitions at US Museums and the opportunity to host an event in one of five rental venues and the Museum will waive the rental fees (applicable to Museum operating hours).
Business Council
Where business and art intersect. The Business Council is an essential partner in supporting the region’s cultural and educational life. Benefits are tailored to meet the needs of companies and their employees.
Partner $3,500-$5,499 ($2,860 tax-deductible)
This entry-level membership offers recognition for your company, one Society of Fellows membership, one Corporate Employee Day, invitations to opening events and exhibition vouchers for your colleagues, clients and employees.
Executive $5,500-$9,999 ($4,460 tax deductible)
This enhanced level includes one, free annual Museum rental, employee membership discounts and executive lunch privileges in Rozzelle Court.
Director $10,000-$24,999 ($8,535 tax deductible)
Great for behind the scenes access to the Museum. Host a curator-led exhibition or gallery tour, receive curatorial consultation on your corporate art collection and logo recognition on our e-newsletter.
Leader $25,000-$49,999 ($23,295 tax deductible)
Tour the Painting and Objects conservation studios (max. 10 people) and receive ticket assistance for special exhibitions at US museums. Membership in the Director’s Circle and enhanced recognition is also included.
President $50,000-$99,999 ($47,895 tax deductible).
All of the benefits listed above including a greater employee membership discount and additional memberships in the Society of Fellows.
Chairman $100,000+ ($97,375 tax deductible).
The pinnacle of corporate support, Chairman level members receive the maximum of all Business Council benefits.
ADDENDUM:
List of known The Thinker casts -79 inch high-
SOURCE: p 587, Musee Rodin’s 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin by Antoinette Le Normand Romain
[NOTE: Subtitles, Notes, numbering 1-21 casts and chronological order mine]
A.A. HEBRARD FOUNDRY
NOTE: Auguste Rodin, The Thinker, 1880, Bronze, Location: Gallery KCSP, model 1880,, cast after 1902, Bronze, Location: Gallery KCSP
http://www.nelson-atkins.org/desktopguide/script.cfm?id=56316&object=326&col=Kansas%20City%20Sculture%20Park
GEORGES RUDIER FOUNDRY
ADDENDUM:
List of known Adam casts
SOURCE: p 115, Musee Rodin’s 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin by Antoinette Le Normand Romain
[NOTE: Subtitles, Notes, numbering 1-25 casts and chronological order mine]
ALEXIS RUDIER FOUNDRY
ALEXIS RUDIER FOUNDRY
ALEXIS RUDIER FOUNDRY
Ten additional copies cast by Georges Rudier: (no. 2, 1954, and nos. 4–12, 1964–75)
GEORGES RUDIER FOUNDRY
UPDATED: May 14, 2012
INTRODUCTION
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's The Thinker and Adam, attributed as “sculptures”[FN 1]
to Auguste Rodin, are actually non-disclosed posthumous [1928-1950]
forgeries with counterfeit Auguste Rodin signatures inscribed.
On page 661 of the Seventh Edition of Black's Law Dictionary, -forgery- is defined as: "the act of fraudulently making a false document or altering a real one to be used as if genuine."[FN 2]
Auguste Rodin died in 1917.
Rhetorically, the dead don't sculpt, much less sign.
The
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's states their -Mission- is: "dedicated to
the enjoyment and understanding of the visual arts and the varied
cultures they represent. It is committed through its collections and
programs to being a vital partner in the educational and cultural life
of Kansas City and a preeminent institution both nationally and
internationally. The Nelson-Atkins strives to achieve this goal by
adherence to the highest professional standards in the collection,
preservation, exhibition and interpretation of works of art."[FN 3]
Therefore,
in the spirit of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s -Mission-, this
monograph will document the:
- Nelson-Atkins' collection of Rodin forgeries,
- Nelson-Atkins Museum director's hubris
- Musee Rodin's skewing of Rodin's true legacy,
- Cantor Foundation's avarice,
- 2011-2012 exhibition of Rodin forgeries,
- 1971 exhibition of Rodin forgeries,
- 1959 exhibition of Hirshhorn forgeries,
- Nelson-Atkins' collection of other forgeries,
- Precedents of museum fraud,
- Law, ethics and the visual arts, and
- Conclusion
- Footnotes
- Addendum: [Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s Sales Promotion for Membership]
- Addendum: [List of known The Thinker casts -79 inch high-]
- Addendum: [List of known Adam casts]
1. NELSON-ATKINS' COLLECTION OF RODIN FORGERIES
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's Adam [1928-1929] and The Thinker [1950] are non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed forgeries with counterfeit RODIN and A Rodin signatures.
For some sixty years [1950 - 2011] the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art misleading listed “1880” and "model 1880, cast after 1902" dates for their two non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed forgeries falsely attributed to a dead Auguste Rodin when the above “Alexis Rudier Fondeur Paris” inscriptions on the bases of both should have been red flags those dates were not accurate since the Alexis Rudier foundry, run by Alexis Rudier's son Eugene Rudier,[FN 4] was in business from 1902 to 1952.
The above photographic excerpts, found on pages 115 and 587 of Musee Rodin’s published 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin catalogue by its’ former curator Antoinette Le Normand Romain, documents the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's Adam [1928 - 1929] and The Thinker [1950] were posthumously cast.
On page 47 of the 1999-2000 RODIN
catalogue for an exhibition organized by gallery owner Jose M. Tasende
with collaboration of Musee Rodin’s Jacques Vilain and Stephanie Le
Follie., it states: “The Musee Rodin is the successor of Rodin, as
appointed by the French Government, and has been issuing his work
posthumously since 1917. All the work cast under the commission by the
Musee Rodin includes the following mandatory inscriptions: -Rodin’s
signature.”[FN 5]
Auguste Rodin died in November 17, 1917. The Musee Rodin officially was established some year and half later in March 12, 1919 and "recorded in the Journal Officiel of March 14."[FN 6]
Auguste Rodin died in November 17, 1917. The Musee Rodin officially was established some year and half later in March 12, 1919 and "recorded in the Journal Officiel of March 14."[FN 6]
On page 1387 in the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, the term -signature- is defined as: “A person’s name or mark written by that person or at the person’s direction.”[FN 7]
Additionally, on page 354 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -counterfeit- is defined as: “To forge, copy, or imitate (something) without a right to do so and with the purpose of deceiving or defrauding.”[FN 8]
Furthermore, under U.S. Copyright Law § 101. Definitions, a "work of visual art” ie., -sculpture- is defined as: “multiple cast, carved, or fabricated sculptures of 200 or fewer that are consecutively numbered by the author and bear the signature or other identifying mark of the author.”[FN 9]
Since Auguste Rodin [d 1917] was dead when the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's The Thinker [1950] and Adam [1928-1929] were posthumously cast in bronze, the posthumous “A Rodin” and “RODIN” inscriptions could not have been “written by that person or at the person’s direction.”
Therefore, would the Musee Rodin’s inscriptions of Auguste Rodin’s name to posthumously cast bronzes and the promotion of those posthumous inscriptions as Auguste Rodin’s signature done “with the purpose of deceiving or defrauding?”
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's marble base for The Thinker and the “didactic panel” for its’ Adam makes the direct representation, by inscription and printed text, they are attributed to Auguste Rodin.
Additionally, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's audio podcast for The Thinker, a celebrity speaker misrepresents, with or without intent, it as a "sculpture" and an "iconic sculpture" that "was made in 1880 and it is the oldest sculpture in the park."[FN 10]
Furthermore, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art uses children voices in their -for kids- podcast, for The Thinker, to misrepresent it as: "This is The Thinker and its a really famous sculpture made by Auguste Rodin in 1880 and its' the oldest sculpture in the park."[FN 11]
REPRESENTATION VERSUS DISCLOSURE
On page 1303 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -representation- is defined as: “A presentation of fact - either by words or by conduct - made to induce someone to act, esp to enter into a contract."[FN 12]
On page 476 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -disclosure- is defined as: “The act or process of making known something that was previously unknown.”[FN 13]
CHRONOLOGY OF FLIP-FLOP
Interestingly, shortly before the October 1, 2011 opening of the Rodin: Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation exhibition, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's representation versus disclosure for their collection of The Thinker and Adam attributed as original works of visual art ie., sculpture to Auguste Rodin, began to flip-flop.
Here is the chronology of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's flip-flop:
Here is the chronology of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's flip-flop:
From 1950 to 2011, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art listed The Thinker and Adam in their collection with respectively "1880" and "cast after 1902" dates that predated Auguste Rodin's death in 1917:
- "Auguste Rodin, French, 1840-1917, Adam, 1880, cast date unknown. Bronze, 6 feet 5 inches x 29 inches x 29 inches (195.58 x 73.66 x 73.66 cm), Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust, 55-70, Location: Gallery Sculpture Hall"[FN 14]
- "Auguste Rodin, The Thinker, 1880, Bronze, Location: Gallery KCSP, model 1880, cast after 1902, Bronze, Location: Gallery KCSP"[FN 15]
In early October 2011, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art then changed, on their website, the date of the Adam from "1880, cast date unknown" to "cast 1955" and The Thinker from "model 1880, cast after 1902" to "cast 1950" respectively some 38 to 33 years after Auguste Rodin's death in 1917.
- "Adam, Sculpture Hall, Nelson-Atkins Building, Auguste Rodin, French (1840-1917), Adam, modeled 1880, cast 1955. Bronze, 6 feet 5 inches x 29 inches x 29 inches. Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust, 55-70"[FN 16]
- "The Thinker, Kansas City Sculpture Park, Auguste Rodin, French (1840-1917). The Thinker, modeled 1880, probably cast ca. 1950. Bronze, 6 feet x 38 1/2 inches x 4 feet 6 inches. Lent by the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners, Gift of Grant I. and Mathilde Rosenzweig, 4-1950"[FN 17]
Then later in the month of October 2011, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art then changed again, on their website, the date of the Adam from "cast 1955" back to "modeled 1880, cast date unknown" and The Thinker to "cast 1949."
- "Adam, Sculpture Hall, Nelson-Atkins Building, Auguste Rodin, French (1840-1917), Adam, modeled 1880, cast date unknown. Bronze, 6 feet 5 inches x 29 inches x 29 inches. Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust, 55-70"[FN 18]
- "The Thinker, Kansas City Sculpture Park, Auguste Rodin, French (1840-1917). The Thinker,
modeled 1880, probably cast ca. 1949. Bronze, 6 feet x 38 1/2 inches x 4
feet 6 inches. Lent by the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners,
Gift of Grant I. and Mathilde Rosenzweig, 4-1950"[FN 19]
For some sixty years [1950-2011] the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art perpetuated, with or without intent, the misrepresentation of two non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed forgeries, in their collection with counterfeit "RODIN" and "A Rodin" signatures inscribed, with dates that misleadingly predate Auguste Rodin's death. Then suddenly in October 2011, why did the museum start to flip-flop their 60 years of misrepresentation of their non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed forgeries?
Could it have something to do with the October 1, 2011 to June 3, 2012 Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation exhibition that is basically the same collection of non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed forgeries from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection and The B.G. Cantor Art Foundation, exhibited some 40 years earlier in the 1971 AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection exhibition at the former William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts a.k.a. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art?
In the 1971 AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection exhibition catalogue's "Forward," the former William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts director Laurence Sickman wrote: "Through the generosity of the B. Gerald Cantor Collection and the B.G. Cantor Art Foundation, the Gallery is privileged to exhibit the most comprehensive group of bronze sculptures by Auguste Rodin ever shown in Kansas City."[FN 20]
Auguste Rodin -never- created a "bronze sculpture."
All bronzes cast ie., reproduced from his models during Auguste Rodin's lifetime, much less posthumously, are -at best- reproductions.
So,
what is the public to make of the connoisseurship of William Rockhill
Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts director Laurence
Sickman, much less the current Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s CEO and director Julián Zugazagoitia,
who both would misrepresent bronze reproductions, much less
non-disclosed posthumous bronze forgeries as original works of visual
art ie., sculptures?
The Nelson-Atkins Museums of Art states it: “depends upon members of all levels to support the learning and enrichment programs that make our Museum an important – and free – community resource.”[FN 21]
On page 292 of The Random House College Dictionary, -contradiction- is defined as: "A statement that contradicts or denies another or itself and is logically incongruous."[FN 22]
So, if Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art offers free admission, if you buy membership, what are we to make of such a contradiction?
Therefore, whether by words or conduct, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is trying to “induce someone to act, exp. to enter into a contract,” which includes but not limited to: “individual museum membership for $65 each, tax-deductible Fellow memberships from $1,000 to $10,000 each and tax-deductible Business partners from $3,500 to $100,000 each.”[FN 23]
So, how can the public give informed consent on whether to visit the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, much less purchase a museum membership, if the museum is willing to make the representation: “bronze sculptures by Auguste Rodin” that does -not- match the disclosure?
In the installation video posted on the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s website for their Rodin: Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation exhibition, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s CEO and director Julián Zugazagoitia states: “We are so fortunate that Iris Cantor opened her collection for us to be able to welcome it here at the Nelson-Atkins. As you know the Cantors have been the most important components of the scholarship and of the study of diffusion of Rodin’s work in the United States and the world.”[FN 24]
On page 1232 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -propaganda- is defined as: “the systematic dissemination of doctrine, rumor, or selected information to promote, or injure a particular doctrine, view or cause.”[FN 25]
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art CEO and director Julian Zagzagoitia, with or without intent, is using scholarship as an euphemism for propaganda.
Does Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s CEO and director Julian Zugazagoitia want the public to believe or suspend disbelief when he promotes an exhibition of non-disclosed reproductions and posthumous forgeries, falsely attributed as original works of visual art ie., -sculptures by Auguste Rodin- as “a presentation that gives the sense of many of his lifetime achievements?”
The dead don’t have -lifetime- achievements.
Additionally, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s CEO and director is a current member of the Association of Art Museum Directors and “has served on the Board of the Association of Art Museum Directors since 2007.”[FN 26]
Therefore, as an AAMD member and board member, Julian Zugazagoitia endorses the ethical guidelines mandated in their published 2001 Professional Practices in Art Museum manuel.
In part, but not limited to, on page 31 under the subtitle -Reproductions of Works of Art- in the Professional Practices in Art Museum manuel, it states: “misleading marketing of reproductions, has created such widespread confusion as to require clarification in order to maintain professional standards. - museums must clearly indicate through the use of integral markings on the objects, as well as signs, labels and advertising, that these items are reproductions - signatures, edition numbers, and/or foundry marks on sculpture must not appear on the reproduction.”[FN 27]
Therefore, the posthumous inscriptions of an artist's name and foundry marks to any posthumous reproduction, much less a forgery, in their collection would violate the Association of Art Museum Director member and Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's director Julian Zagzagoitia's endorsed ethical guidelines.
Additionally, in part, but not limited to, on page 22 under the subtitle -Criteria for Deaccessioning and Disposal-, it states: “The authenticity or attribution of he object lacks sufficient aesthetic merit or art historical importance to warrant retention. In disposing of or retaining a presumed forgery, the museum shall consider all ethical issues including the consequences of returning the object to the market.”[FN 28]
Rhetorically, should any museum, much less the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's deaccess ie., sell a "presumed forgery back into the marketplace and stick some unsuspecting buyer or subsequent patron with it?
As an AAMD member, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and its' director Julian Zugazagoitia endorses the ethical guidelines on reproductions in their 2001 Professional Practices in Art Museum publication. In part, it states: "museums must clearly indicate, through the use of integral markings on the objects, as well as signs, labels, and advertising, that these items are reproductions - signatures, editions numbers, and/or foundry marks on sculpture must not appear on the reproduction. - The touting of exaggerated investment value of reproductions must be avoided because the object or work being offered for purchase is not original and the resale value is highly in doubt. - When advertising reproductions, museums should not use language implying that there is any identity of quality between the copy and the original or lead the potential buyer to believe that by purchasing any such reproduction, he or she is acquiring an original work of art." [FN 29]
Therefore, under these ethical guidelines, AAMD members, such as the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, could not even display, much less sell The Thinker and Adam [in their collection] in their gift shop because of the posthumous application of a counterfeit "A. Rodin" and "RODIN" signature sand the Alexis Rudier foundry mark.
Obviously, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is located in the United States of America at 4525 Oak Street in Kansas City, Missouri and operates under the U.S. laws.
Under U.S. Copyright Law § 101. Definitions, a "work of visual art” ie., -sculpture- is defined as: “multiple cast, carved, or fabricated sculptures of 200 or fewer that are consecutively numbered by the author and bear the signature or other identifying mark of the author.”[FN 30]
Since The Thinker was posthumously cast in 1950 and Adam was posthumously cast in 1928/1929, under U.S. Copyright Law's definition of a "work of visual art" ie., sculpture, a dead Auguste Rodin [d 1917] could -never- be the author.
Additionally, under U.S. Copyright Law 101. Definitions, a -derivative work- is defined as an: "art reproduction"[FN 31] and under U.S. Copyright Law 106A. the "Rights of certain authors to attribution and integrity - shall not apply to any reproduction." [FN 32]
Therefore, since anything posthumously cast by definition would be a reproduction that subsequent derivative ie., reproduction would not be attributable to an artist, living or dead.
Yet, too many museums to mention like the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art operate more like foreign embassies where they either cite non-applicable foreign decrees to justify their avarice or ignore applicable U.S. laws, much less their own endorsed ethical guidelines, as if they are exempt.
Like Alice in Wonderland, where's a rabbit hole when you need one?
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. [The more things change, the more they are the same.]
3. MUSEE RODIN'S SKEWING OF RODIN'S TRUE LEGACY
On page 285 in the former Musee Rodin curator Monique Laurent’s “Observations on Rodin and His Founders” essay, published in the National Gallery of Art’s 1981 Rodin Rediscovered catalogue, the former Musee Rodin curator documents that the Auguste Rodin’s 1916 Will stated: “notwithstanding the transfer of artistic ownership authorized to the State of M. Rodin, the latter expressly reserves for himself the enjoyment during his life, of the reproduction rights of those objects given by him.”[FN 33]
Yet, in contradiction, on page 47 of the 1999-2000 RODIN
catalogue for an exhibition organized by gallery owner Jose M. Tasende
with collaboration of Musee Rodin’s Jacques Vilain and Stephanie Le
Follie, it states: “The bronzes issued by the Musee Rodin are original
pieces limited to 12 copies.”
The Musee Rodin is using “original pieces” as an euphemism for reproductions.
REPRESENTATION: FROM RODIN'S ORIGINAL PLASTERS
Continuing on page 47 of the 1999-2000 RODIN catalogue for an exhibition organized by gallery owner Jose M. Tasende with collaboration of Musee Rodin’s Jacques Vilain and Stephanie Le Follie, it states: “By virtue of the Decree of September 5, 1978 and of Decree No. 93-163 of February 2, 1993, both relative to its statute, the Musee Rodin has had casting done from the original plasters given by Rodin to the French Government in 1916 on conditions set by the laws in effect, as follows, Decree No. 81-255 of March 3, 1981 (Official Journal of the French Republic 03/20/81, Decree No. 91-1326 of December 23, 1991 (Official Journal of the French Republic 12/31/91 enforced by the Ethical Code of Artistic Foundries and Decree 95-172 of February 17, 1995.”[FN 34]
Yet, in contradiction with itself, on the Musee Rodin admits, in violation of Auguste Rodin’s 1916 Will, it does -not- reproduce in bronze from “those object given by” Auguste Rodin.
DISCLOSURE: NOT FROM RODIN'S ORIGINAL PLASTERS
This -blockbuster- admission has been published on the Musee Rodin’s website, where the Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Le Normand Romain wrote: “Consequently, whenever it is decided to release a new ‘subject,’ a copy is first made from the old mould which can be sent without risk to the foundry where it undergoes the necessary preparations for casting. It is coated with an unmoulding agent, usually in a dark colour, and cut, before being cast again. This practice not only ensures absolute fidelity to the original but also preserves the old plasters which are obviously more valuable since they were made during the lifetime of Rodin.”[FN 35]
Since these second-generation-removed casts in bronze are not reproduced from Auguste Rodin's original lifetime plasters, by definition, they would not even be considered reproductions.
This factual perspective is confirmed on page 350 in HarperCollins’ published 1991 Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques by Ralph Mayer, where -reproduction- is defined as: “a general term for any copy, likeness, or counterpart of an original work of art or of a photograph, done in the same medium as the original or in another, and done by someone other than the creator of the original.”[FN 36]
Additionally, on page 70 in HarperCollins’ published 1991 Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques by Ralph Mayer, -cast- is defined as: “to reproduce an object, such as a piece of sculpture, by means of a MOLD.”[FN 37]
So, when the Musee Rodin has someone, with their hands and fingers, posthumously reproduce/cast plaster reproductions from Auguste Rodin's original lifetime plasters, rhetorically whose fingerprints are subsequently cast into bronze?
Yet, the vast majority of the academia and museum industry have the misconception and/or perpetuate, with or without intent, that misconception that these non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed bronze forgeries, falsely attributed to dead Auguste Rodin, are cast directly from his original lifetime plaster models.
An example of this misconception can be found in the National Gallery of Art's published 1981 Rodin Rediscovered catalogue. On page 279 of the "An Original in Sculpture" essay, the author, Jean Chatelain, professor at the University of Paris and former director of the Museums of France, wrote: "When the twelfth copy of The Burghers of Calais is cast, the same plaster model will be used as was used the first time in 1894, but of course different craftsmen will carry out the casting."[FN 38]
So, what would Jean Chatelain think of the Musee Rodin's posthumous practice of sending plaster reproductions, rather than Auguste Rodin's original lifetime plasters, for casting in bronze?
SECONDARY REPRODUCTIONS NOT EQUAL TO ORIGINAL
Ironically, in the prior page 278 of his "An Original in Sculpture" essay, Jean Chatelain wrote: "an engraving can be reproduced by means of photographic techniques, a tapestry can be copied from one already made, and a bronze statue can be copied from an existing bronze. Through manipulation of these techniques, it is possible to achieve quite commendable results, but all things being equal, none of these secondary reproductions will have the same quality as those made from the original model itself."[FN 39]
J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM DEFINES COUNTERFEIT
J. Paul Getty Museum, under their Getty Research, defines -counterfeit- as: "forgeries (derivative objects)" with a note stating: "Reproductions of whole objects when the intention is to deceive; includes sculptures cast without the artist's permission."[FN 40]
So, if Auguste Rodin gave the “right of reproduction to objects given by him” and he did, and the Musee Rodin, in commercial venues in the United States, promotes that they have “casting done from the original plasters given by Rodin” and they do, what are we to make of the -blockbuster- contradiction when the Musee Rodin admits they do -not- send Auguste Rodin’s original plasters to the foundry for casting but posthumous plaster reproductions?
VARIATIONS IN THE NUMBERING SYSTEM
One of the Musee Rodin's largest 20th-21st century patrons, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, on their website, states: "Efforts have been made in France by the Musée Rodin and in the United States by the College Art Association to ensure the quality and authenticity of posthumous casts. In 1956 French law limited the casting of each of Rodin’s works to twelve examples of each size. In 1968 France passed a law requiring that the date of the cast be inscribed on each sculpture. A system of numbering was established by French legislation in 1981 whereby the first eight of the twelve casts, numbered 1/8–8/8, are made available for public purchase; the last four, numbered I/IV–IV/IV, are reserved for cultural institutions. (Despite these efforts, variations in the numbering system are occasionally found on authorized casts.)"[FN 41]
CANTOR FOUNDATION FLIP-FLOPPING
For over ten years the United States based Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation's website promoted limitation of "Rodin's work to twelve examples," under French law, was reestablished and strictly imposed in 1981"[FN 42] but now the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation is now flip-flopping when it states: "Despite these efforts, variations in the numbering system are occasionally found on authorized casts."[FN 43]
Under U.S. Copyright Law,, a “multiple cast, carved, or fabricated sculptures of 200 or fewer" to be considered a -limited edition- it must be "consecutively numbered by the author and bear the signature or other identifying mark of the author.”[FN 44]
Auguste Rodin died in 1917.
Rhetorically, the dead don't posthumously consecutively number or apply their signature.
What was Auguste Rodin’s attitude toward casting work in bronze?
On page 22 in the published 1988 RODIN catalogue by Monique Laurent, the former Musee Rodin curator wrote that Auguste Rodin: “attitude towards bronze sculpture was quite different and complex, and it was influenced by the obligation he felt to respond to the needs of different clients. - For the general public, he had no hesitation in disseminating, as was the custom of the time, his most famous sculptures - The Kiss, The Thinker, The Eternal Spring - in the form of mechanical reductions which specialist foundries would sell directly, the sculptor who supplied the model merely receiving an agreed percentage.”[FN 45]
So, did Auguste Rodin actually sign and/or number any of the lifetime casts of his work?
This is in part answered on page 22 of the 1988 RODIN, where the author and former Musee Rodin curator Monique Laurent wrote: “Most of the bronzes are stamped with the artist’s signature (copied from an example supplied by him) and also with the stamp of the foundry. Some although perfectly authentic, are unsigned. But there is no question of any of them being numbered or dated, these are modern methods, linked with the notion of rarity and speculation in art.”[FN 46]
NO LIMITATION EXCEPT FOR THE TRUTH
So, if the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation states: “In 1956 French law limited the casting of each of Rodin’s works to twelve examples of each size,” why is their 1984 bronze cast of Auguste Rodin’s Adam, listed as no. 7 of 8, the 25th posthumous bronze cast of at least twenty-five total lifetime and posthumous casts?
Rhetorically, would it seem the Musee Rodin can't count and the scholarship of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation can't be counted on?
Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation’s “Summary: Authorized Posthumous Casting of the Work of Auguste Rodin” SOURCE: News Media [Click to enlarge]
4. CANTOR FOUNDATION'S AVARICE
Several years ago in response to the news media inquiries on the authenticity of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation’s touring Rodin collection, the foundation issued a “Summary: Authorized Posthumous Casting of the Work of Auguste Rodin” position paper.
The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation stated: “All works in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection and Cantor Foundation Collection are original Rodins. Some of these were made during Rodin’s lifetime, other were made after he died and according to his explicit wishes and instructions to the government of France.”[FN 47]
The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation is using -original- as an euphemism for -forgeries-, much less for reproductions.
Remember, as documented earlier, on page 285 in the former Musee Rodin curator Monique Laurent’s “Observations on Rodin and His Founders” essay, in the National Gallery of Art’s published 1981 Rodin Rediscovered catalogue, the former Musee Rodin curator documents that the Auguste Rodin’s 1916 Will stated: “notwithstanding the transfer of artistic ownership authorized to the State of M. Rodin, the latter expressly reserves for himself the enjoyment during his life, of the reproduction rights of those objects given by him.”[FN 48]
Therefore, why are the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation misrepresenting Auguste Rodin’s true “explicit wishes and instructions to the government of France” by promoting their collection of non-disclosed posthumous -forgeries-, much less lifetime reproductions, as originals?
There are only two lifetime reproductions of Auguste Rodin’s reduction of The Thinker listed in the Musee Rodin’s published 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin by Antoinette Le Normand Romain. On page 587 the curator wrote: “according to Rene Cheruy’s Notes [Musee Rodin archives], only two casts were made of the reduction, the first of which was given by Rodin to Mrs. Joseph Pulitzer, and the second to P. A. Cheramy [sale, Paris, Hotel Drouot, 14 April 1913, no. 308].”[FN 49]
That fact is additionally confirmed on page 587 of The Bronzes of Rodin catalogue, when the former Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Le Normand Romain further wrote: “Although Cheruy was right at the time he wrote this [in the 1920’s], a proliferation of casts soon followed. - About thirty casts by Alexis Rudier” with two of the bronze casts listed in the “former Lucien Mellerio Coll., acq. before 1919.”[FN 50]
So, the Musee Rodin promotes for sale, in their gift shop, The Thinker reproductions for $903.53 each and the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation misrepresents, in their touring exhibitions, The Thinker reproduction as a sculpture and insures it for $250,000.
Additionally, in the “Summary: Authorized Posthumous Casting of the Work of Auguste Rodin” position paper, in a further effort to obscure issues of authenticity surrounding their so-called Rodin collection, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation wrote: “Efforts have been made in France by the Musee Rodin and in the United States by the College Art Association to ensure the quality and authenticity of posthumous casts, as well as their accurate identification as such.”
Lets examine the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation’s claims of authenticity and accuracy.
On page 175 of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation’s published 2001 Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession
catalogue, the 71.1 cm high [28 inches] cast of The Thinker, in their
collection, is listed as “1880, date of cast unknown - Alexis Rudier
foundry” and “Signed A. Rodin.”[FN 51]
First, the Alexis Rudier foundry, as documented earlier, went into business in 1902, some 22 years after the disingenuously listed “1880” date.
So, listing this specific The Thinker as “date of cast unknown” may be true but is not accurate.
Second, as for the so-called “date of cast unknown” for this specific The Thinker, on page 586 of The Bronzes of Rodin, the former Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Le Normand lists one of the [71.5 cm high] bronze casts, chronologically after a 1931 cast, as: “no. 2, Los Angeles, Cantor Coll. [acq. directly from Rudier by the previous owner, before 1940].”[FN 52]
So, once again, listing this specific The Thinker as “date of cast unknown” may be true but is not accurate.
Third, on page 1386 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -sign- is defined as: “To identify (a record) by means of a signature, mark, or other symbol with the intent to authenticate it as an act or agreement of the person identifying it.”[FN 53]
So, listing this specific The Thinker as “Signed A. Rodin” is not accurate, since the dead don’t identify, much less authenticate.
Yet, despite the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation’s misleading and inaccurate descriptions given for their collection of posthumous reproduction/casts, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art would have the public believe or just suspend disbelief, in their “Rodin Sculptures Illustrate Power of Emotions” press release for the October 1, 2011 to June 4, 2012 Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation exhibition, that: “This exhibition brings together more than 40 bronze sculptures by Rodin from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, which aims to promote understanding and appreciation of the artist’s achievements.”[FN 54]
It would seem both the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art are committed to fostering the illusion of authenticity of their non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed forgeries in their collections but not the understanding and appreciation of Auguste Rodin, much less any artist’s true achievements.
The dead don’t have achievements.
LIFETIME REPRODUCTION
5. 2011-2012 EXHIBITION OF RODIN FORGERIES
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's October 1, 2011 to June 4, 2012 Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation exhibition contains -no- sculptures. At best, the exhibition contains only 7 lifetime reproductions and 35 non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed forgeries with counterfeit "A Rodin" signatures.
Since the vast majority of bronzes cast during Auguste Rodin's lifetime went directly from the foundry to the patron, Auguste Rodin has probably never seen the seven potential lifetime reproductions, much less the 35 non-disclosed posthumous forgeries in this exhibition
Yet, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's September 26, 2011 “Rodin Sculptures Illustrate Power of Emotions”[FN 55] press release states: "More than 40 of his powerful bronze sculptures will be exhibited in the Bloch Lobby from Oct. 1, 2011 through June 3, 2012.
Additionally, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's press release states the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation "includes among its aims the promotion, understanding and appreciation of Rodin's achievements."[FN 56]
Once again, under U.S. Copyright Law 101. Definitions, a “work of visual art” ie., -sculpture- is defined as: “multiple cast, carved, or fabricated sculptures of 200 or fewer that are consecutively numbered by the author and bear the signature or other identifying mark of the author.”[FN 57]
Yet, in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation’s published 2001 Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession catalogue, all 35 of the non-disclosed posthumous second-generation-removed forgeries, in this exhibition, are listed as being: “Signed A. Rodin.”[FN 58]
Now, that would be quite an achievement, since the dead don’t sign.
The Director and CEO Julian Zugazagoitia stated "the [Oct. 1, 2011 to June 4, 2012 in their Rodin, Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation] exhibition is a celebration of the importance of sculpture at the Nelson-Atkins."[FN 59]
The "celebration of the importance of sculpture" is understanding the dead don’t sculpt.
7 POSSIBLE LIFETIME REPRODUCTIONS
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1 of 7 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, modeled ca. 1885–89, cast number, edition size and date unknown, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
On page 177 of the 2001 Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession catalogue, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation lists in their collection an Ovid's Metamorphoses [with the following dimensions: 33.3 x 40 x 26 cm and date "c. 1885-89, date of cast unknown"], is listed as "Signed on base with raised signature A Rodin inside" and Perzinka foundry.[FN 60]
On page 288 in Monique Laurent's "Rodin and His Founder"s essay, in the National Gallery of Art's published 1981 Rodin Rediscovered catalogue, the former Musee Rodin curator wrote: "The activity of Leon Perzinka, caster and carver, installed at 29, then 11-13, rue Montreuil at Versailles, took place between 1896 and 1901."[FN 61]
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
2 of 7 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Head of Shade with Two Hands, modeled ca. 1910, cast 2, edition size and date unknown, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
On page 573 of the Musee Rodin's published 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin, the former Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Normand-Romain wrote of Auguste Rodin experimenting "with combining the whole figure, or fragments, with other works: thus while the head of the Shade found itself clasped between its two hands apparently tied together at the base of the neck [fig 8]." On the opposite page, page 572, -fig. 8- has the following description: "Head of the Shade between Two Hands, after 1886, bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, Los Angeles." [Footnote 16, on page 574, states: "Plaster, S.1050 {20.1 x 26.8 x 21.7 cm}. Bronzes, cast by Alexis Rudier: "no. 2," Los Angeles Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation."[FN 62]
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
3 of 7 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Fugitive Love, modeled before 1887, cast number, edition size and date unknown, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
On page 380 of the Musee Rodin's published 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin, the former Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Normand-Romain wrote: "A bronze, which seems to have been cast from a marble, only the surbase of which has survived [26.7 x 56 x 29.2 cm; signed]: Los Angeles, Cantor Foundation, acq. Sotheby's New York, 23 October 1980, no. 208."[FN 63]
Later on page 383 of The Bronzes of Rodin , in reference to another bronze cast from a marble, the former Musee Rodin curator wrote: "the bronze that Rodin gave Jean Aicard in early 1895 has been made from a cast of this marble, which was, moreover, often reproduced."[FN 64]
Aside, -cast- by definition means "to reproduce an object such as a sculpture by use of a MOLD,"[FN 65] anything "reproduced" logically results in reproductions.
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
4 of 7 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Small Right Clenched Hand, modeled ca. 1885, cast number, edition size and date unknown, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
On page 501 of the Musee Rodin's published 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin, the former Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Normand-Romain wrote in her Footnote 5: "Clenched Right Hand, small version; plaster, S. 5284; S. 6078, with beginning of wrist [14.2 x 10.8 x 7.6 cm]. Bronzes, cast by Leon Perzinka, 1899; Alexis Rudier, 1906. Seven casts after 1917 by Alexis Rudier: Stanford University, Cantor Art Center, gift of B. Gerald Cantor, 1978; Los Angeles Cantor Foundation, then by Georges Rudier, between 1953 and 1961: London, Victoria and Albert Museum, acq. 1953; no. 5, Stanford University, Cantor Arts Center, gift of the Cantor Foundation, 1974."[FN 66]
On page 188 of the 2001 Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession catalogue, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation lists in their collection two Small Clenched Right Hand bronzes [with the following dimensions: 14 x 11.4 x 6.4 cm and dates "c. 1885, date of cast unknown"], listed as "Signed A Rodin" with an Alexis Rudier foundry inscription.[FN 67]
So, whether one of the two Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation's Small Clenched Right Hand bronzes is a lifetime [1906?] cast or posthumously cast after 1917 by the Alexis Rudier foundry [1902-1952], the "1885" date is not applicable since the foundry was some 17 years from being in
business.
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
5 of 7 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Left Hand of Pierre de Wissant, modeled ca. 1884–89, cast number, edition size and date unknown, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
On page 241 of the Musee Rodin's published 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin, the former Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Normand-Romain wrote: "Pierre and Jacques de Wissant, Left hand, c. 1885-86, sand cast, before 1916, 20.9 x 19.1 x 11.6 cm, Signed A. Rodin across the writ, on the inner arm. Foundry mark Alexis Rudier./Fondeur, Paris on the upper arm." and other casts "by Alexis and Georges Rudier [no. 4, © 1967, Stanford University, Cantor Arts Center, gift of Cantor Foundation, 1974]. A bronze with no foundry mark, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, anonymous gift, 2001."[FN 68]
The Alexis Rudier foundry went into business in 1902 till 1952 and its' successor Georges Rudier foundry from 1952 till 1980's.
On page 187 of the 2001 Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession catalogue, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation lists in their collection: Left Hand of Pierre de Wiessant, c. 1884-89, date of cast unknown, Bronze, Alexis Rudier, 27.9 x 19 x 15.2 cm, Signed A. Rodin."[FN 69]
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
6 of 7 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Pierre de Wissant, modeled 1886–87, cast number, edition size and date unknown, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
On page 237 of the Musee Rodin's published 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin, the former Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Normand-Romain wrote: "Pierre de Wissant, Reduction, sand cast, 1917? [before 1952], 45 x 17 x 16.7 cm, Signed A. Rodin" [in Musee Rodin's collection] and other casts are listed with "no foundry mark[s]" and casts by Alexis Rudier: Cambridge [Mass.], Harvard University, Fogg Art Museum, bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop, 1943 [acq. 1923 or 1925]; San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, gift of Mrs. Spreckels, 1941 [acq. from Eugene Rudier, 1929]; Saarbruck, Saarland Museum, acq. 1959; Notre Dame [Ind.], Snite Museum of Art, acq. from the Otto Gerson Gallery, New York, 1960; San Antonio, Marion Koogle McNay Art Museum, acq. 1963;
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, bequest of Mrs. Stephen C. Clark, 1967; Louisville, J.B. Speed Art Museum, acq. 1968; Brooklyn Museum of Art, gift of Cantor Foundation, 1984; Los Angeles, Cantor Coll.; Mexico City, Soumaya Museum. Six further casts by Alexis then Georges Rudier, between 1944 and 1959."[FN 70]
Documented casts by Alexis Rudier of Pierre de Wissant (Reduction) bronzes post date "1917?" and Auguste Rodin's death.
Yet, on page 180 of the 2001 Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession catalogue, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation lists in their collection: Pierre de Wiessant (Reduction), c. 1886-87, reduction made in either 1895 or 1899, date of cast unknown, Bronze, Alexis Rudier, 47.6 x 16.5 x 10.2 cm, Signed A. Rodin."[FN 71]
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
7 of 7 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Right Hand, Middle Fingers Together, model date unknown, cast number, edition size and date unknown, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
On page 501 of the Musee Rodin's published 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin, the former Musee Rodin curator Antoinette Normand-Romain wrote: "In 1926, Baron Chasseriau, the chairman of the board, suggested that the museum bring out editions of the hands: "I was thinking about the number of models of hands of all kinds which are in Meudon and which, reduced in bronze, would certainly be a source of income. People would buy them to offer as gifts at various ceremonies, where it is always difficult to choose which present to make. Much appreciated by collectors [nos. 1 to 22] and gradually slowing down until the final series [Hand No. 39] was cast between 1974 and 1977."[FN 72]
On page 189 of the 2001 Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession catalogue, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation lists in their collection: Right Hand, Middle Finger Slightly Bent, No date, Bronze, No foundry mark, 4 x 2 x 1 1/2 in. (10.2 x 5.1 x 3.8 cm), Signed A Rodin."[FN 73]
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1931
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1956 of later
2 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Right Hand, Fingers Close Together, Slightly Bent, modeling date unknown, Musée Rodin cast 6/12, date unknown, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
The Musee Rodin did not officially go into business till 1919.
Additionally, the artificial edition of twelve is a posthumous practice by the Musee Rodin as admitted by Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation's own published words: "In 1956 French law limited production to twelve casts of each model." [p 2, RODIN, Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection brochure]
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1959
3 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Three Faunesses, modeled before 1896, Musée Rodin cast number unknown in edition of 12, 1959, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1960’s
4 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Study for Balzac (Type “B”), modeled 1896, Musée Rodin cast 8, edition size unknown, 1963, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
5 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Crouching Woman, modeled ca. 1880–82, Musée Rodin cast 4/5, 1963, Bronze, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of B. Gerald Cantor Art Foundation, M.73.108.4, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
6 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Large Right Clenched Hand, modeled ca. 1885, Musée Rodin, cast number and edition size unknown, 1965, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
7 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Large Clenched Left Hand, modeled ca. 1885, Musée Rodin cast 3/12, 1966, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
8 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Iris, Messenger of the Gods, modeled 1890–1900, Musée Rodin cast 9/12, 1966, Bronze, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of B. Gerald Cantor Art Foundation, M.73.108.11
9 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Large Left Hand of a Pianist, modeled 1885, Musée Rodin cast 9/12, 1969, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1970’s
10 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Jean d’Aire, Second Maquette, modeled 1885–86, Musée Rodin cast 1/12, 1970, Bronze
11 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Clenched Left Hand with Figure, modeled ca. 1906–07, Musée Rodin cast 1/12, 1970, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
13 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Adam with Pillar, modeled 1878–80, Musée Rodin cast 10/12, 1978, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
14 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Nude Study of Balzac (Type“C”), modeled ca. 1892, Musée Rodin cast 12/12, 1976, Bronze, Iris andB. Gerald Cantor Collection
15 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Women Damned, modeled ca. 1885, Musée Rodin cast 2/12, 1978, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1980's
16 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Monumental Head of Pierrede Wissant, modeled ca. 1884–85, Musée Rodin cast 10/12, 1980, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
17 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Monumental Head of Balzac, modeled 1897, Musée Rodin cast 9/12, 1980, Bronze, Iris and B.Gerald Cantor Foundation
18 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Maquette of General Lynch, modeled 1886, Musée Rodin cast 5, edition size unknown, 1981, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
19 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Balzac in Dominican Robe, modeled 1893, Musée Rodin cast 9, edition size unknown, 1981, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection
20 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Jean de Fiennes, modeled 1885–86, Musée Rodin cast 2/8, 1981, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection, Promised Gift to the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
21 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, The Three Shades, modeled 1880–1904, Musée Rodin cast 10, edition size unknown, 1981, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection
22 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Study for the Monument to Whistler, modeled 1905–06, Musée Rodin cast 3/8, 1983, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
24 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, The Creator, modeled ca. 1900, Musée Rodin cast II/IV, 1984, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
25 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Small Torso of Falling Man, modeled ca. 1882, Musée Rodin cast II/IV, 1984, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
26 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Narcissus, modeled ca. 1882, Musée Rodin cast 8/8, 1985, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
27 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Head of Balzac, modeled 1892–93, Musée Rodin cast 4/8, 1985, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
28 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Head of Shade, modeled ca. 1880, Musée Rodin cast 1/8, 1988, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
29 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Bust of Young Balzac, modeled 1893, Musée Rodin cast II/IV, 1988, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1990’s
30 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Torso of Despairing Adolescent, modeled ca. 1882–87, Musée Rodin cast 1/8, 1991, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
31 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, The Gates of Hell, Third Maquette, modeled 1880, Musée Rodin cast 1/8, 1991, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection
32 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Claude Lorrain, modeled 1889, Musée Rodin cast 5/8, 1992, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection
33 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, The Gates of Hell, Second Maquette, modeled 1880, Musée Rodin cast II/IV, 1995, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection
34 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Final Head of Eustache de St. Pierre, modeled ca. 1886, Musée Rodin cast II/IV, 1995, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
35 of 35 Auguste Rodin, French, 1840–1917, Head of Shade, modeled ca. 1880, Musée Rodin cast II/IV, 1995, Bronze, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
The illusion of authenticity, is never more evident than in a video posted on the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s website. In referring to The Three Shades in the exhibition, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s associate curator Nicole Myers states: “It is just so powerfully sculpted and I personally am very moved when I stand in front of it and find I can stare at for hours on end and come back to it and keep looking see different things and feel different things.”[FN 74]
Aside, Auguste Rodin [d 1917] has never seen the 1981 posthumous second-generation-removed forgery of The Three Shades with a counterfeit "A Rodin" signature, that the Nelson-Atkins Museum
of Art’s associate curator Nicole Meyers would -stare- upon for hours, what are we to make a museum curator and her connoisseurship who would refer to something as sculpted, that clearly was not sculpted, much less by a dead Auguste Rodin?
In the installation video posted on the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s website for their Rodin: Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation exhibition, the announcer Nancy Layton states: “The exhibition illustrates the breath and depth of Rodin’s career.”[FN 75]
On page 204 of Random House College Dictionary, -career- is defined as: "progress or general course of action of a person through life."[FN 76]
Yet, if we take just two examples of the so-called -sculptures-, the Falling Man and Paolo Francesca, in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s Rodin: Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation exhibition, they were posthumously reproduced/cast in 1974 and 1983 respectively, some 57 to 66 years after Auguste Rodin’s death in 1917.
Rhetorically, the dead don't have careers.
The above bronze titled: The Earth, with the listed date of “1885” in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Art’s published 1971 AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection and The B. G. Cantor Art Foundation catalogue and exhibition, was actually 1 of 13 posthumously reproduced/cast by the Georges Rudier foundry between 1962 and 1970.
Yet, in the Foreword, for this 1971 catalogue the Director Laurence Sickman wrote: “Through the generosity of the B. Gerald Cantor Collection and the B. G. Cantor Art Foundation, the Gallery is privileged to exhibit the most comprehensive group of bronze sculptures by Auguste Rodin ever shown in Kansas City.”[FN 77]
Auguste Rodin sent his models to foundries for reproduction ie., casting in bronze that the majority of the time went straight to a polisher for the patina. By definition, -cast- “means to reproduce an object, such as a piece of sculpture by use of a mold.”[FN 78]
So, whether a lifetime or posthumous cast, at best, the result would be bronze reproductions, -not- bronze sculptures.
RODIN’S PERSONAL CONTROL OVER PRODUCTION SLIGHTLY FANCIFUL
This fact is supported on page 22 in the published 1988 RODIN catalogue by Monique Laurent, where the former Musee Rodin curator wrote: “Often it was the polisher rather than the caster who gave the piece its final tone. And since one of the most loyal of these, Limet, lived more than a hundred kilometers from Paris, received the pieces directly from the foundry, and, after putting on the patina, sent them straight to the clients, one must admit that the idea Rodin had personal control over every phase of production was slightly fanciful, at least after his success in 1900.”[FN 79]
The source for the checklist below is the 1971 AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection and The B. G. Cantor Art Foundation catalogue for an exhibition at the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts:
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 1. Man with the Broken Nose, (L’Homme au Nez Casse), 1864, Bronze, 11 x 7 x 9 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 2. Mignon, (Mignon), 1870, Bronze, 16 1/2 x 12 1/2 x 12 1/2 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 3. Head of a Young Boy, (Tete de Jeune Garcon), 1876, Bronze, 7 x 5 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection,
- 4. The Age of Bronze, (Age d’Airain), 1876-77, Bronze, 39 x 15 1/2 x 13 inches, B. G. Cantor Art Foundation
- 5. The Walking Man, (L’Homme qui march), 1877, Bronze, 87 7/8 x 29 1/2 x 53 1/8 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 6. St. John the Baptist Preaching, (Saint Jen-Baptiste Prechant), 1876-80, Bronze, 32 x 13 x 21 inches, B. G. Cantor Art Foundation
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 7. The Thinker, (Le Penseur), c. 1880, Bronze, 28 x 14 x 21 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 8. Adam, 1880, Bronze, 75 1/2 x 29 1/2 x 30 1/4 inches, Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, (Nelson Fund)
- 9. Eve, 1881, Bronze, 69 x 23 3/4 x 30 1/4 inches, B. G. Cantor Art Foundation
- 10. The Three Shadows, (Les Trois Ombres), c. 1880-81, Bronze, 38 1/2 x 35 1/2 x 17 3/4 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 11. The Crying Lion, (Le Lion qui Pleure), 1881, Bronze, 11 x 13 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 12. Bellona, (Bellone), 1881, Bronze, 32 x 18 1/2 x 17 3/4 inches, B.G. Cantor Art Foundation
- 13. Torso of a Man (Torse d’Homme), 1882, Bronze, 41 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 15 3/4 inches, B. G. Cantor Art Foundation
- 14. Head of Sorrow, (Tete de la Douleur), 1882, Bronze, 9 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 8 inches, B. G. Cantor Art Foundation
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 15. Jules Dalou, 1883, Bronze, 20 1/2 x 15 x 8 5/8 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 16. Eternal Spring, (L’Eternel Printemps), 1884, Bronze, 25 1/4 x 28 1/4 x 16 inches, B. G. Cantor Foundation
- 17. The Earth, (La Terre), 1884, Bronze, 8 x 18 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches, B.G. Cantor Foundation
The Georges Rudier foundry went into business in 1952, 35 years after Auguste Rodin’s death in 1917 and some 68 years after the listed date given in the 1971 AUGUSTE RODIN catalogue.
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 18. Danaide, (La Danaide), 1885, Bronze, 12 3/4 x 29 1/4 x 22 1/2 inches, B. G. Cantor Art Foundation
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 19. Study of a Woman Damned, (Etude pour une Damnee), 1885, Bronze, 8 x 15 1/2 x 10 1/4 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 20. The Kiss (Le Baiser), 1886, Bronze, 34 x 17 x 22 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 21. Kneeling Faunesse (Faunesse a Genoux), 1886, Bronze, 21 1/4 x 9 x 11 1/2 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 22. Camille Claudel in a Bonnet (Camille Claudel au Bonnet), 1886, Bronze, 10 x 5 1/2 x 6 inches, B. G. Cantor Art Foundation
- 23. The Three Sirens (Les Trois Sirenes), 1887, Bronze, 18 x 16 x 12 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 24. Venus (Venus), 1888, Bronze, 20 x 2 3/4 x 5 1/4 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 25. The Prodigal Son (l’Enfant Prodigue), c. 1888, Bronze, 55 x 41 1/2 x 28 inches, B.G. Cantor Art Foundation
- 26. Eternal Idol, (L’Eternelle Idole), 1889, Bronze, 29 x 16 x 10 1/2 inches, B.G. Cantor Art Foundation
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 27. The Centauress (La Centauresse), c. 1889, Bronze, 15 4/3 x 17 3/4 x 7 inches, B. G. Cantor Art Foundation
- 28. Large Clenched Left Hand with Figure (Grand Main Crispee Gauche avec Figure), c. 1890, Bronze, 18 x 12 x 10 1/2 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
On page 499 of the Musee Rodin’s 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin by their former curator Antoinette Le Normand Romain, Large Clenched Hand with Imploring Figure is listed as: “twelve casts by E. Godard, between 1969 and 1977, no. 1, © 1969, Los Angeles , Cantor Col.”[FN 88]
Some 30 years later, on page 188 in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation’s published 2001 Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession catalogue, this same Large Clenched Left hand with Figure is now disclosed as: “cast 1/12 in 1970” some 53 years after Auguste Rodin’s death in 1917 and yet nonsensically listed as: “Signed and numbered A. Rodin/No. 1.”[FN 89]
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 29. Brother and Sister (Le Frere et la Soeur), 1890, Bronze, 15 x 7 1/4 x 15 3/4 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 30. Iris, Messenger of the Gods (Iris, Messagere des Dieux), 1890, Bronze, 37 1/2 x 34 1/4 x 15 3/4 inches, B. G. Cantor Art Foundation
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 31. Despair (Le Desespoir), c. 1890, Bronze, 11 x 5 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches, B. G. Cantor Art Foundation
- 32. She who was the Helmet-Maker’s Beautiful Wife (Celle qui fut la Belle Heaulmiere), c. 1885, Bronze, 18 3/4 x 12 1/8 x 9 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 33. Amor and Psyche (L’Amour et Psyche), c. 1885, Bronze, 9 x 27 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 34. Triumphant Youth (Le Baiser de l’Aieule), c. 1894, Bronze, 20 7/8 x 19 3/4 x 12 5/8 inches, B.G. Cantor Art Foundation
- 35. Illusions Received by the Earth (Illusions Recues par la Terre), 1895, Bronze, 20 1/4 x 32 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches, B. G. Cantor Art Foundation
- 36. Fugitive Love (Fugit Amor), c. 1882-87, Bronze, 15 x 18 1/2 x 9 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 37. The Minotaur (Le Minotaure), c. 1897, Bronze, 13 1/2 x 10 x 10 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 38. Monumental Bust of Victor Hugo (Buste monumental de Victor Hugo), 1897, Bronze, 28 x 18 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches, B. G. Cantor Foundation
- 39. The Cry (Le Cri), 1898, Bronze, 10 1/2 x 12 1/2 x 8 inches, Bronze, 10 1/2 x 12 1/2 x 8 inches, B.Gerald Cantor Collection
- 40. Large Head of Hanako (Tete d’Hanako), 1908, Bronze, 12 x 18 x 25 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 41. Half-Length Torso of a Woman, (Etude de Femme a Mi-Corps), 1910, 29 x 18 x 25 inches, B. G. Cantor Art Foundation
- 42. Pas-De-Deux “G” (Pas-de-Deux “G”), 1910-13, Bronze, 13 1/2 x 7 x 6 3/4 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 43. Bust of Clemenceau (Buste de Clemenceau), 1911, Bronze, 18 7/8 x 11 x 11 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 44. Head of Pope Benedict XV (Tete de Benoit XV), 1915, Bronze, 10 x 7 x 9 1/2 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 45. Hand of God, (La Main de Dieu), 1897, Bronze, 13 x 13 x 11 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 46. Large Hand of a Pianist (Grande Main d’une Pianiste), c. 1905, Bronze, 7 1/2 x 10 1/4 x 5 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 47. Hand of Rodin with Torso (Main de Rodin avec Torso), 1917, Bronze, 7 x 9 x 5 1/2 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
One of those so-called “bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin” titled the “Hand of Rodin Holding Torso (Main de Rodin avec Torso, 1917 bronze”[FN 95] in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Art’s 1971 AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection and The B. G. Cantor Art Foundation catalogue and exhibition was actually posthumously cast in 1968, by the Georges Rudier foundry, from a lifetime plaster cast taken from the hand of an invalid Auguste Rodin shortly before his death and posthumously combined with plaster cast of a female torso by Auguste Rodin.
CAST OF THE SCULPTOR’S HAND
This is confirmed, on page 210 of the Musee Rodin’s published 2004 RODIN catalogue by the Musee Rodin curator Ralphael Masson and archivist Veronique Mattiussi, where the authors wrote: “Shortly before Rodin’s death, {Musee du Luxembourg curator and future Musee Rodin director} Benedite asked that a studio assistant make a cast of the sculptor’s hand.”[FN 96]
NOT SIGNED OR INSCRIBED
On page 637 in the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s published 1976 Sculpture of Auguste Rodin catalogue, where for the same titled plaster Hand of Rodin Holding a Torso, the author John Tancock wrote: “This composite work, made from a life cast and an original work - [was] not signed or inscribed.”[FN 97]
Yet, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collections’ so-called Hand of Rodin Holding Torso has a “A Rodin” inscription [see detail above], despite Auguste Rodin never signing it.
So, the very thing Auguste Rodin denied ever doing -casting from life-, as he was accused in 1877 with his Age of Bronze[FN 98], was credited in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Art and the B. G. Cantor Art Foundation’s 1971 AUGUSTE RODIN exhibition catalogue as one of the “bronze sculptures by Auguste Rodin.”
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 48. Blessing Hand (Main Benissante), Bronze, 4 1/2 x 2 7/8 x 6 inches, B. G. Cantor Art Foundation
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 49. Large Left Hand (Grande Main Gauche), Bronze, 13 x 6 1/2 x 7 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 50. Large Hand of Burgher (Grande Main d’un Bourgeois), c. 1884-90, Bronze, 11 x 7 1/2 x 6 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 51. Jean D’Aire, c. 1884, Bronze, 18 1/4 x 5 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches, Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, (Gift of Mr. and Mrs. B. Gerald Cantor)
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 52. Jean D’Aire, Nude (Jean d’Aire Nu), c. 1886, Bronze, 40 3/4 x 13 5/8 x 12 1/4 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 53. Monumental Head of Jean D’Aire (Tete Monumentale de Jean d’Aire), c. 1884-88, Bronze, 18 3/4 x 25 1/8 x 22 1/2 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 54. Jean De Fiennes, c. 1886, Bronze, 18 1/4 x 5 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 55. Andrieu D’Andres, c. 1885 Bronze, 18 1/2 x 7 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 57. Head of Eustache De Saint-Pierre, (Tete de Eustache de Saint-Pierre), 1890, Bronze, 13 x 9 7/8 x 9 7/8 inches, B. Gearld Cantor Collection
- 58. Study of Nude for Balzac “C” (Etude de Nu pur Balzac “C”), c. 1893, Bronze, 30 x 14 x 13 1/2 inches, B. G. Cantor Foundation
- 56. Monumental Head of Pierre De Wiessant (Tete Monumentale de Pierre de Wiessant), c. 1884-88, Bronze, 36 1/2 x 10 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 59. Study of Nude for Balzac “F” (Athlete), (Etude de Nu pour Balzac “F”, “Athlete”), c. 1884-88, Bronze, 38 x 16 x 14 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 60. Monumental Head of Balzac (Tete Monumentale de Balzac), c. 1893, Bronze, 19 1/2 x 19 1/2 x 15 3/4 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 61. Study for Balzac “G” (Etude pour Balzac “G”), c. 1893-95, 32 1/8 x 21 3/4 x 13 7/8 inches, Bronze, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 62. Balzac in Domincan Robe (Balzac en Robe de Dominicain), 1892, 42 x 20 1/4 x 14 3/4 inches, Bronze, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 63. Hear of Balzac “H” (Tete de Balzac “H”), c. 1893-95, Bronze, 12 x 12 x 9 1/2 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
- 64. Head of Balzac “I” (Tete de Balzac “I”), c. 1893-95, Bronze, 6 5/8 x 5 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection
Auguste Rodin's Balzac commission was rejected by the committee of the Societe des Gens de Letteres and was never cast in bronze during his lifetime, The vast majority of Auguste Rodin studies, if not totality, were cast posthumously. The lone exception seems to have been the Head of Balzac. [FN 107]
7. 1959 EXHIBITION OF HIRSHHORN FORGERIES
On October 25-December 6, 1959, the Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn exhibition, held at then William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, contained at least 48 non-disclosed posthumous forgeries -falsely- attributed to Renoir, Daumier, Degas, Gauguin, Gonzalez, Kollwitz, De La Fresnaye, Lehmbruck, Maillol, Mattisse, Barlach and Rodin, ironically -not- seen by those dead artists in their time.
RENOIR FORGERIES
One of these 48 non-disclosed posthumous forgeries [above] is titled: Boy with a Flute, one of a triad of forgeries [the other two: Dancer with a Tambourine I and Dancer with a Tambourine II], all falsely attributed to a dead Pierre-Auguste Renoir [d 1919], that were actually posthumously cast in terracotta and bronze from plasters forged by the sculptor Louis Fernand Morel using Renoir's’ drawings.
Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn:
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Boy with a Flute (Pipe Player), (1918) cast 1950s
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Dancer with a Tambourine I, (1918) cast 1950s
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Dancer with a Tambourine II, (1918) cast 1950s
On pages 17-18 in the 1947 Renoir Sculptor biography by Paul Haesaerts, author wrote: Ambroise Vollard “still had to persuade Renoir, whose scruples persisted, to put himself seriously to work. It was not easy. Poor Renoir, perfectly aware of his condition, could do nothing but hold out his twisted, inert hands and say: 'But my dear friend, don't you see the state I'm in?'"[FN 109]
If there was any doubt that Pierre Auguste Renoir understood that he was involved in a scheme with the art dealer Ambroise Vollard, forger Richard Guino and later Louis Fernand Morel, the art critic George Besson answered that question when he quoted Renoir stating: “‘I no longer want to be the author of sculptures made in my absence, from my old sketches.’ Another concern being: ‘Vollard has the stamp of my signature. Will he use it, like a brand name, on all sorts of pieces, some of which may be successful but which I do not know about?’”[FN 110]
ALL THE CASTINGS OF THESE RELIEFS ARE POSTHUMOUS
Pierre Auguste Renoir had every right to wary of Ambroise Vollard. This is confirmed on page 352, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Philadelphia Museum of Art edited Renoir in the 20th Century catalogue, where Musee d’Orsay Conservateure du patrimoine, administratrice adjointe de la RMN, en charge de la politique scientifique Emmanuelle Heran wrote: “It was the sculptor Louis Fernand Morel who assisted Renoir in the execution of this triad” and “According to Haesaerts, Morel worked in fresh plaster, not clay. All the castings of these reliefs, whether in terracotta or bronze, are posthumous. ”[FN 111]
Additionally, on page 43 of Paul Haesaerts’ 1947 Renoir Sculptor biography, for Dancer with a Tambourine I, Dancer with a Tambourine II and Pipe Player a.k.a. The Flute Player,
the author wrote not only were the plasters “not signed”/“unsigned” but
that a so-called “Renoir” signature was “signed”/“scratched” on the
terracottas.[FN 112]
Yet, on page 352, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Philadelphia Museum of Art edited 2010 Renoir in the 20th Century catalogue [exhibition sponsored by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation], these same three posthumously cast terracottas are now listed as having a “Renoir” signature.
On page 1387 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -signature- is defined as: “a person’s name or mark written by that person or at the person’s direction.”[FN 113]
On page 354 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -counterfeit- is defined as: “to forge, copy, or imitate (something) without a right to do so and with the purpose of deceiving or defrauding.”[FN 114]
Yet, on page 352, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Philadelphia Museum of Art edited 2010 Renoir in the 20th Century catalogue [exhibition sponsored by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation], these same three posthumously cast terracottas are now listed as having a “Renoir” signature.
On page 1387 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -signature- is defined as: “a person’s name or mark written by that person or at the person’s direction.”[FN 113]
On page 354 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -counterfeit- is defined as: “to forge, copy, or imitate (something) without a right to do so and with the purpose of deceiving or defrauding.”[FN 114]
DAUMIER FORGERIES
Honore-Victorin Daumier -never- worked in bronze. This factual perspective is confirmed on page 253 of Pierre Kjellberg’s 1994 Bronzes OF THE 19TH CENTURY, Dictionary of Sculptors, where the author wrote Honore Daumier's "sculpted work is better known thanks to the bronzes" but “he never saw them, and no doubt never anticipated them.”[FN 115]
Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn:
- Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Ratapoil, (c. 1850)/(cast 1925),
- Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Admiral Verhuel or Girod de l'Ain: The Simpleton, (c. 1832-1835)/(cast 1948-1952),
- Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Pelet de la Lozere: Man with a Flat Head, (c. 1832-1835)/(cast 1948-1952),
- Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Lecompte: The Subtle One, (c. 1832)/(cast 1948-1952), Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Felix Barthe: An Important Person, (c. 1832-1835)/(cast 1948-1952),
- Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Antoine Odier-Boue: The Scornful One, (c. 1832-1835)/(cast 1948-1952),
- Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Charles-Leonard Gallois: The Ironic One, (c. 1832-1835)/(cast 1948-1952),
- Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Claude Baillot: The Egoist, (c. 1832-1835)/(cast 1948-1952),
- Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Charles Guillaume Etienne: The Vain One, (c. 1832)/(cast 1948-1952),
- Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Hyppolyte-Abraham Dubois: Big, Fat and Satisfied, (c. 1832-1835)/(cast 1948-1952),
- Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Jacques-Antoine-Adrian, Baron Delort: The Mocking One, (c. 1832-1835)/(cast 1948-1952),
- Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Antoine-Maurice Apollinaire, Comte d'Argout: Witty and Malicious, (c. 1832-1835)/(cast 1948-1952),
- Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Alexandre-Simon Pataille: The Gourmet, (c. 1832-1835)/(cast 1948-1952),
- Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Pierre-Paul Royer-Collard: The Sly Old Man, (c. 1832-1835)/(cast 1948-1952),
- Honoré-Victorin Daumier, The Parisian Janitor, (c. 1840-1862)(cast c. 1951-1957),
- Honoré-Victorin Daumier, The Man who Enjoys Life, (c. 1840-1862)/(cast c. 1951-1957).
All so-called bronzes attributed to Honore Daumier (d 1879) were posthumously forged between 1891 and the 1960's.
This is additionally confirmed in a National Gallery of Art's "2000 biographie of Honoré Daumier" by Suzanne Glover Lindsay, where the author wrote: "The many posthumous campaigns to serialize Daumier's sculpture, which lasted well into the 1960s, have provided a subtly altered view of that aspect of his work."[FN 116]
DEGAS FORGERIES
It is amazing how many in the museum/academic world, much less the huge majority of the public does not have a clue that Edgar Degas never cast his sculptures in bronze (much less brass) and expressly did not want his sculptures cast into bronze.
Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn:
- Edgar Degas, Dancer Holding Right Foot in Right Hand, (c. 1890-1911)/(cast 1919-1921),
- Edgar Degas, Dancer Holding Right Foot in Right Hand, (1896/cast c. 1919-1932),
- Edgar Degas, Woman Washing Left Leg, (1896-1911/cast c. 1919-1932),
- Edgar Degas, Woman Getting Out of Bath, (c. 1896-1911)/(cast 1919-1932),
- Edgar Degas, Dancer Putting on Stocking, (c. 1896-1911/cast 1919-20),
- Edgar Degas, Dancer Moving Forward, Arms Raised, (c. 1882-1898)/(cast c. 1919-1931),
- Edgar Degas, Picking Apples, (c. 1881)/(cast c. 1919-1932),
- Edgar Degas, Dancer: Arabesque on Right Leg, Left Arm in Line, (c. 1877-1885)/(cast c. 1919-1931),
- Edgar Degas, Dancer At Rest, Hands On Hips, Right Leg Forward, (c. 1881-1890)/(cast 1919-1925).
This is further confirmed in the National Gallery of Art’s published 1998 Degas at the Races catalogue. On page 180 in Daphne S. Barbour’s and Shelly G. Sturman’s “The Horse in Wax and Bronze” essay, these authors wrote: “Degas never cast his sculpture in bronze, claiming that it was a “tremendous responsibility to leave anything behind in bronze -- the medium is for eternity.”[FN 118]
All bronzes, falsely attributed to a dead Edgar Degas, may actually be made of brass according to the National Gallery of Art’s published 2010 Edgar Degas Sculpture catalogue.
“Brass is the term used for alloys of copper and zinc in a solid solution. Typically it is more than 50% copper and from 5 to 20% zinc, in comparison to bronze which is principally an alloy of copper and tin.”[FN 119]
This metallurgical discovery is confirmed on page 26 of the National Gallery of Art’s published 2010 Edgar Degas Sculptures catalogue, in the “Degas’ Bronzes Analyzed” essay by Shelly G. Sturman and Daphne S. Barbour. In part, the authors wrote: “Analysis of the elemental surface composition of the National Gallery sculptures was performed using X R F, a noninvasive technique. An alloy of copper and zinc with low to medium tin and traces of lead was used to cast all the sculptures. Results were also compared to X R F analysis undertaken at the Norton Simon Museum on the bronze modeles and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on some of the serial A set as well. - Bronze is a misnomer for these sculptures, because they are all cast from brass (copper and zinc with tin). But as they are universally referred to as “Degas bronzes,” we will continue to use that term in a nontechnical sense throughout this discussion.”[FN 120]
On page 1015 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -misnomer- is defined as: “A mistake in naming a person, place of thing, esp. in a legal instrument.”[FN 121]
Unfortunately, the National Gallery of Art, Shelly G. Sturman and Daphne S. Barbour have a plethora of misnomers throughout their essay, not to mention the entire catalogue, one of which is the constant referral to posthumous bronzes, much less in brass attributed to Edgar Degas, as “sculpture.”
The dead don’t sculpt.
The National Gallery of Art, Shelly G. Sturman and Daphne S. Barbour would seem to believe and are acting on that belief the practice of perpetuating mistakes, with or without intent, is just a misnomer.
All brass but no Degas.
BARLACH FORGERIES
Ernst Barlach died in 1938. These non-disclosed forgeries, falsely attributed to Ernst Barlach, were posthumously cast some 7 to 19 years after the artist's death.
Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn:
- Ernst Barlach, The Avenger, (1914)/cast 1946-1955,
- Ernst Barlach, Reading Monks III, 1932/cast 1945-1951,
- Ernst Barlach, Russian Beggarwoman II, (1907)/cast 1946-1957,
GAUGUIN FORGERY
Paul Gauguin died in 1903. The non-disclosed forgery was posthumously cast some 47
years after the artist's death.
Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn:
- After Paul Gauguin, Torso of a Tahitian Woman, (c. 1892)/(cast 1950),Julio González, Head of a Proud Girl, (1936/cast 1950),
GONZALEZ FORGERY
Julio Gonzalez died in 1942. The non-disclosed forgery,
falsely attributed to Julio Gonzalez, was posthumously cast some 13
years after the artist's death.
Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn:
- Julio González, Mask of Montserrat Screaming, (c. 1938-1939/cast by 1955),
KOLLWITZ FORGERIES
Kathe Kollwitz died in 1945. These non-disclosed forgeries,
falsely attributed to Kathe Kollwitz, were posthumously cast some 1 to 11
years after the artist's death.
Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn:
- Käthe Kollwitz, Lamentation: In Memory of Ernst Barlach, (1938)/cast c. 1946-1955,
- Käthe Kollwitz, Grave Relief: "Rest in the Peace of God's Hands", (1935-36/cast c. 1950-1956),Käthe Kollwitz, Self-Portrait, (1926-1932/cast c. 1946-1956),
FRESNAYE FORGERY
Roger De La Fresnaye died in 1925. The non-disclosed forgery, falsely attributed to Roger De La Fresnaye, was posthumously cast some 23 to 25 years after the artist's death.
Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn:
- Roger De La Fresnaye, The Italian Girl, (1911-1912/cast c. 1948-1950),
LEHMBRUCK FORGERIES
Wilhelm Lehmbruck died in 1919. These non-disclosed forgeries,
falsely attributed to Wilhelm Lehmbruck, were posthumously cast some 27 or more
years after the artist's death.
Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn:
- Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Head of a Girl with Slender Neck, (1913-1914) (cast early 1950s),
- Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Small Female Torso, (1911) cast 1946-1955
MAILLOL FORGERIES
Aristide Maillol died in 1944. These non-disclosed forgeries,
falsely attributed to Aristide Maillol, were posthumously cast some 9 to 10
years after the artist's death.
Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn:
- Aristide Maillol, Nymph (Central Figure For "The Three Nymphs"), (1930/cast by 1953),
- Aristide Maillol, Kneeling Nude, (1900/enlarged 1904, cast 1954),
MATISSE FORGERIES
Henri Matisse died in 1954. These potential non-disclosed forgeries,
falsely attributed to Henri Matisse, were posthumously cast up to one
year after the artist's death.
Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn:
- Henri Matisse, Seated Nude: Olga, (1910, cast c. 1947-1955),
- Henri Matisse, Bust of an Old Woman, (1900, cast c.1947-1955),
- Henri Matisse, Venus on a Shell II, (1932/cast c.1947-1955)
RODIN FORGERIES
Auguste Rodin died in 1917. These non-disclosed forgeries,
falsely attributed to Auguste Rodin, were posthumously cast some 36 to 37
years after the artist's death.
Sculpture in Our Time: Collected by Joseph H. Hirshhorn:
- Auguste Rodin, Head of Sorrow, (1882; enlarged 1889-1904) cast 1954
- Auguste Rodin, Crouching Woman (Small Version), (1880-1882/cast by 1953)
SCULPTURE IN OUR TIME EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art a.k.a Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art was not the only venue for the touring Sculpture in Our Time by Joseph H. Hirshhorn 1959-1960 exhibition of non-disclosed posthumous forgeries. This shameful exhibition history[FN 122] is as follows:
- Detroit Institute of Arts, 5 May-23 August 1959,
- Milwaukee Art Center, 10
September-11 October 1959,
- Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 25 October-6
December 1959,
- William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, Missouri,
20 December-31 1959 January 1960,
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1-27 March 1960,
- Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science and Art, 11 April-15 May 1960,
- M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, E San Francisco, 29 May-10 July 1960,
- Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado, 24 July-4 September 1960, and
- Art Gallery of Toronto, 30 September-31 October 1960.”
http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/CollectionDatabase.cfm?id=145&theme=American
NON-DISCLOSED FORGERY
8. NELSON-ATKINS' COLLECTION OF OTHER FORGERIES
The above titled Bas-Relief Woman bronze attributed to Gaston Lacahise in Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's collection, was cast in 1993, some 58 years after Gaston Lachaise's death in 1935.
As documented before, on page 70 in HarperCollins’ published 1991 Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques by Ralph Mayer, -cast- is defined as: “to reproduce an object, such as a piece of sculpture, by means of a MOLD.”[FN 125]
Therefore, at best, the posthumously cast Bas-Relief Woman bronze is a reproduction.
In October 1935, Gason Lachaise "died suddenly after being rushed to the hospital after bleeding from a tooth distraction that had ceased to staunch. Some later speculated that leukemia was the cause; whatever the diagnosis, the doctors were unable to save him."[FN 126]
J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM DEFINES COUNTERFEIT
J. Paul Getty Museum, under their Getty Research, defines -counterfeit- as: "forgeries (derivative objects)" with a note stating: "Reproductions of whole objects when the intention is to deceive; includes sculptures cast without the artist's permission."[FN 127]
Tragic as Gaston Lachaise death was in 1935, 58 years later in 1993 the dead don't give permission.
As an AAMD member and board member, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art director Julian Zugazagoitia endorses the ethical guidelines mandated in their published 2001 Professional Practices in Art Museum manuel.
In part, but not limited to, on page 31 under the subtitle -Reproductions of Works of Art- in the Professional Practices in Art Museum manuel, it states: “misleading marketing of reproductions, has created such widespread confusion as to require clarification in order to maintain professional standards. - museums must clearly indicate through the use of integral markings on the objects, as well as signs, labels and advertising, that these items are reproductions - signatures, edition numbers, and/or foundry marks on sculpture must not appear on the reproduction.”[FN 128]
The above titled Bas-Relief Woman bronze, posthumously cast in 1993, is listed as having an edition number "2/8."
NON-DISCLOSED POSTHUMOUS REWORKED AND ALTERED FORGERY
In 1863, the Royal Academy [located in Madrid, Spain] acquired 80 of Francisco Goya y Lucientes "Disasters of War" etching plates and decided arbitrarily to rework and alter those plates with lines, creating new compositions, aquatint darkening Goya's vision of bringing light to Napoleon's atrocities and titles correcting misspellings by Goya to fit the arrogant sensibilities of mid-19th-century. Those 80 reworked and altered plates were subsequently used by the printer Laurenciano Potenciano to forge 500 posthumous impressions totaling some 40,000. Those reworked and altered plates were subsequently steel plated and used to forge some 40,000 or more additional posthumous impressions well into the late 20th-century.
Francisco Goya y Lucientes died in 1828.
It is 80 of these forged posthumous impressions from posthumously reworked and altered plates that the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is falsely promoting as original works of visual art ie., etchings by Francisco Goya y Lucientes.
Rhetorically the dead don't etch.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, in their published 1996 Prints, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art catalogue, the museum attempts to perpetuate the misconception that because Goya's Disasters of War plates 65-90 were "condemning clergy and government - the Disasters could not feasibly be published."[FN 129]
Fortunately, the British Museum has in their collection a complete authentic set of the 80 Disasters of War etching proofs, printed by the artsit Francisco Goya Y Lucientes, that in contrast to the posthumously altered and darken posthumous impressions, seems to be an attempt by the artist to bring light to the Napoleonic atrocities.
"Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War) / Que valor! (What courage!), Plate 7: young woman standing on mound of corpses, lighting cannon fuse; from a bound album of working proofs, presented by the artist to Ceán Bermúde, 1810-12, Etching, drypoint, burin and burnisher, AN37955001, © The Trustees of the British Museum, Department: Prints & Drawings, Registration number: 1975,1025.421.9, Bibliographic reference Delteil 126 Harris 127.I.3"
http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=1333694&partid=1&searchText=goya&fromDate=1810&fromADBC=ad&toDate=1900&toADBC=ad&numpages=10&images=on&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx¤tPage=4
LIFETIME ETCHING BY FRANCISCO GOYA Y LUCIENTES
POSTHUMOUS REWORKING AND ALTERATION
The posthumous reworking and alteration
of Goya's original etching plates with the application of an aquatint
tone is never more evident than when one compares Goya's lifetime
working proof etching titled "What Courage," in the British Museum's
collection, with the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's posthumous forgery
with the same title published in 1863 by the Royal Academy and printed
by Laurenciano Potenciano.
This posthumous application of aquatint to Goya's etching plates is
confirmed, aside from one's own eyes, by following two sources:
Ironically, these posthumous reworked and altered plates and subsequent tens of thousands of posthumous forged impressions is backhandedly confirmed on page 144 in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's published 1996 Prints, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art catalogue when it states Goya's "Disasters of War" plates were "acquired by the Academia de San Fernando in 1862 [and] after cleaning, adding aquatint to obscure defects, pulling trial proofs, and inserting engraved captions."[FN 132]
- In The Disasters of War by Francisco Goya y Lucientes catalogue published in 1967 by Dover Publications, on page 1 of the "Introduction to the Dover Edition," Harvard University Library Department of Graphic Arts' Philip Hofer wrote: "Then a year later, in 1863, the Academy issued the prints publicly, with a newly engraved title page, and printed preface, in eight paper-covered, numbered parts, with some retouching to the aquatint backgrounds and even to Goya’s etching itself!”[FN 130]
- This posthumous forging of Goya etching plates with aquatint is further confirmed by Janis A. Tomlinson in her 1992 Goya In the Twilight of Enlightenment catalogue published by Yale University Press. After Goya's "Disasters of War" etching plates were acquired by the Academy of Fine Art of San Fernando in 1862, the author writes: "To make the first edition of the series most of the plates were altered, completing the lines framing the scenes, adding scratches, and even brunienclo areas of aquatint (7) and tinkering with drypoint (1, 77), chisel (38) or etching (43, 57). Besides printing was performed following the style of the time by the effects of entrapado, a procedure which passes a muslin cloth over the plate and inked on the surface leaving a certain amount of ink that produces a very soft toned overall. The result was far from the force and clarity that can be seen in the many state tests are preserved."[FN 131]
Ironically, these posthumous reworked and altered plates and subsequent tens of thousands of posthumous forged impressions is backhandedly confirmed on page 144 in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's published 1996 Prints, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art catalogue when it states Goya's "Disasters of War" plates were "acquired by the Academia de San Fernando in 1862 [and] after cleaning, adding aquatint to obscure defects, pulling trial proofs, and inserting engraved captions."[FN 132]
Francisco Goya y Lucientes' original plates had defects?
In a Footnote for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's Prints catalogue, it references an excerpt from page 26 of the Graphic Evolutions, The Print Series of Francisco Goya,
where the author Janis Tomlinson "suggested that the revisions might
have been intended to emulate the duskiness of contemporaneous war
photography."[FN 133]They had no shame.
9. PRECEDENTS OF MUSEUM FRAUD
On page 1195 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -precedent- is defined as: “A decided case that furnishes a basis for determining later cases involving similar facts or issues.”[FN 133]
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s non-disclosed posthumous forgeries in their collection and exhibitions are not an exception. Almost the entire museum and auction house industry is riddled with non-disclosed posthumous forgeries. The Art Institute of Chicago found that out when a non-disclosed posthumous forgery in their collection was exposed by law enforcement and made public.
The Faun ceramic, initially attributed to Paul Gauguin [d 1903] by Sotheby's auction house and purchased for $125,000 by the Art Institute of Chicago in 1997, was discovered by Scotland Yard in their 2007 investigation of another forgery to be non-disclosed posthumous [1990’s] forgery by convicted British forger Shaun Greenhalgh and the Greenhalgh family.[FN 134]
After being informed by Scotland Yard, the Art Institute of Chicago posted on their website, a pdf press release, in part, stating: “The Art Institute of Chicago has recently concluded that The Faun, a sculpture acquired by the museum in 1997 as a work by Paul Gauguin, is a creative, well-researched
forgery of a lost work by the artist produced by the recently sentenced Greenhalgh family from Bolton, England.”[FN 135]
Yet, in a New York Times' published December 13, 2007 “Work Believed a Gauguin Turns Out to Be a Forgery” article by Carol Vogel, the reporter quoted the Art Institute of Chicago’s director James Cuno stating: “It is both a good sculpture and crafty concept.”[FN 136]
Since sculpture is an original work of visual art created by the -living- sculptor, it is very troubling for the Art Institute of Chicago director James Cuno to refer to a forgery as an original work of visual art ie., sculpture, particular since as an Association of Art Museum Directors member, this director endorses the College Art Association’s ethics on sculptural reproductions which in part states “any transfer into new material unless specifically condoned by the artist, is to be considered inauthentic or
counterfeit and should not be display or exhibited as a work of art.”[FN 137]
In a Chicago WLS-TV ABC7 News broadcast December 12, 2007 story by Ravi Baichwal, posted on its’ website, it stated: “Shortly after the Greenhalgh conviction in November, AIC president James Cuno was horrified to learn from Scotland Yard and Sotheby's that something in his galleries wasn't as valuable as the sculptures of Gauguin's contemporaries-- like [Dalou] and Rodin, nor the Gauguin's paintings. "There's nothing about its appearance, nothing about its manufacture that raised any doubts about the work. It looked like Gauguin, it looked like things he made," said James Cuno, Art Institute of Chicago.”[FN 138]
[Correction mine: Dulau to Dalou]
In Paul Duro and Michael Greenhalgh’s published Essential Art History, -connoisseurship- is defined as: “that of the art expert able to distinguish between the authentic and non-authentic, for example between an original and a copy.”[FN 139]
In the Chicago Tribune's published December 21, 2006 “Taken in by a Complete Fake” article by Charles Storch and Alan G. Artner, the reporters quoted the former head of the Art Institute of Chicago’s department of European decorative arts, sculpture and ancient art Ian Wardropper stating: "It came with provenance completely believable, - Should we have checked with Scotland Yard whether the consignor was a descendant of O'Connor's? Maybe so, but we don't usually ask for that."[FN 140]
Yet, the Art Institute of Chicago’s -Mission- would have the public believe and act on that belief that it: “collects, preserves, and interprets works of art of the highest quality, representing the world's diverse artistic traditions, for the inspiration and education of the public and in accordance with our profession's highest ethical standards and practices.”[FN 141]
So, if the Art Institute of Chicago, on occasion, has trouble determining, much less asking, whether something is an original or a reproduction, much less a forgery, what is the museum’s difficulty when the documentation makes it obvious?
On the Art Institute of Chicago’s -Collection- website, the museum lists two Jules Aime Dalou[s] as: Bacchus Consoling Ariadne, bronze, “cast 1903/07 - Signed: Dalou” with the “Foundry stamp: “cire perdue Hebrard,”[FN 142] and Allegory of Science, wax, “c.1886” date and “Provenance A.A. Hebrard, Paris, before 1978.”[FN 143]
Since, Jules Aime Dalou died in 1902, who cast the non-disclosed posthumous forgery in bronze with an counterfeit “Dalou” signature and wax forgery?
This is answered on page 234 of Pierre Kjellberg’s 1994 Bronzes OF THE 19TH CENTURY, Dictionary of Sculptors, where the author wrote: “The executors of Dalou’s Will made the decision to authorize the reproductions of these works, according to them in order to enhance the glory of the artist and insure the revenues of the Orphelinat des Arts (which they did) and “These posthumous bronzes were first cast by the lost wax method by Hebrard.”[FN 144]
So, what would Jules Dalou possibly think of the posthumous reproduction of his work?
This is also answered, on page 234 of Pierre Kjellberg’s 1994 Bronzes OF THE 19TH CENTURY, Dictionary of Sculptors, where the author wrote: “Before enumerating the works and the facts of Dalou’s career. it is important to determine what significance the numerous bronzes carrying his signature had for the artist’s work. Details indicate that the large majority were executed after his death. Except for the some subjects cast under his control during his visit to London, and later, between 1898 and 1899, two or three figurines and the bust of Henri de Rochefort (as well as some rare castings in sandstone made by Haviland in Limogesi, Dalou never envisioned his works being reproduced in material other than the one had initially chosen. Moreover, he opposed it: “A work,” he said, “is made for one material and one dimension; to change it is to distort it.”[FN 145]
The auction house Sotheby’s, on their website, defines -provenance- as: "The history ownership of the property being sold. This can be an important part of the authentication process as it establishes the chain for ownership back (if possible) to the time the piece was made.”[FN 146]
Since the Art Institute of Chicago’s listed -Provenance- for their two so-called Dalou{s} are respectively listed as: “Michael Hall Fine Arts, New York, by 1982 [according to invoices and copies of shipping receipts in curatorial file]; sold to the Art Institute, 1983” and “A. A. Hébrard, Paris, before 1978,”[FN 147] how can it be attributed to Jules Dalou since pieces in question were posthumously forged?
As a member of the Association of Art Museum Directors, the Art Institute of Chicago and its’ director endorses the College Art Association's ethical guidelines on sculptural reproduction which, in part, states: “any transfer into new material unless specifically condoned by the artist is to be considered inauthentic or counterfeit.”[FN 148]
Therefore, in referring to The Faun forgery, are we to suspend disbelief or just believe when the Art Institute of Chicago’s director James Cuno is quoted stating: "we make thousands of decisions like this annually. Once in a lifetime something like this happens."[FN 149]
The Art Institute of Chicago’s collection, in addition to the two non-disclosed posthumous “Dalou” forgeries, contains well over 100 non-disclosed posthumous forgeries, falsely attributed to Barye, Chapu, Daumier, Degas, Duchamp-Villon, Gauguin, Goya, Rodin and others. For confirmation, cut and paste this link: http://garyarseneau.blogspot.com/2008/01/thirteen-fakes-in-art-institute-
of.html
On page 506 of the Seventh Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, -double standard- is defined as: "a set of principles permitting greater opportunity or greater lenience for one class of people than for another."[FN 150]
Yet, just seven months later on July 2, 2008 in a Paris auction, Sotheby's auctioned a non-disclosed posthumous bronze forgery titled Harlequin, falsely attributed to Julio Gonzalez [d 1942], who never cast in bronze, much less signed it.
The National Gallery of Scotland has in their collection a non-disclosed posthumous forgery titled Harlequin, falsely attributed to dead Julio Gonzalez. The museum turns reality on its’ head when lists a “1929-1930 (posthumous cast)” date as if a something can be posthumous cast and still predate Julio Gonzalez’ death in 1942. Then to go from the ridiculous to the sublime, it lists a definition of cast, for this non-disclosed posthumous forgery, as if you can make ”a sculpture by use of a mould to make copy.”
Say, what? Sculptures created by the artist versus copies not by the artist are not interchangeable, much less the same.
This posthumous skewing of Julio Gonzalez’s oeuvre is further addressed in the “Truth to Material: Bronze, on the Reproducibility of Truth” essay by Alexandra Parigoris in the published 1997 Sculpture and Its Reproductions edited by Anthony Hughes and Erich Ranfft. On page 141 of her essay, Alexandra Parigoris wrote: “The case of Gonzalez’s posthumous casts is both familiar and particular. It is familiar in that these works are produced by his heirs, allegedly acting according to the wishes of the artist, who, in their words, would have cast all his works including the irons if he could have afforded it. Its particularity resides in the fact that the resulting bronzes are valid before the law as it stands only if the forged and welded metal originals are regarded as platres de travail (working plasters used for casting); in other words, if their status is thus altered.”[FN 152]
Julio Gonzalez never casting in bronze is additionally confirmed in the Legal Guide for Visual Artists by Tad Crawford, On page 223, the author wrote: “A not uncommon event is the authorization of reproductions by the beneficiaries who receive the work. For example, the heirs of sculptor Julio Gonzalez allowed posthumous bronze replicas of the sculptures to be cast and sold. Not only had Gonzalez always used iron as the material for his sculptures, but in some cases the bronze replicas were sold without any indication of their being made posthumously.”[FN 153]
Additionally, the Conseil de la Sculpture du Quebec defines an -original work of art- as a: “single work or work whose pulling is limited to a lawful number of specimens and of which each is numbered, including the specimens of artist and except trade.”[FN 155]
In other words an -Exemplaire d’Artiste- is an “original work of art” that is inscribed “EA” with Roman Numerals (ex. I/IV) which signify its’ edition limitation.
So, what are the potential consequences for museums, auction houses, academia and the like for playing fast and loose with reality of those dead artists’ true oeuvre, much less for living artists and their ability to compete in the marketplace and the public ability to give informed consent without full and honest disclosure?
10. LAW, ETHICS AND THE VISUAL ARTS
On page 816-817 of Kluwer Law International’s published 1998 Law, Ethics and the Visual Arts, Third Edition by John Henry Merryman and Albert E. Elsen wrote about “Counterfeit Art.”[FN 156]
Under the subtitle “Truth,” the authors wrote: “The most serious harm that good counterfeits do is to confuse and misdirect the search for valid learning. The counterfeit objects falsifies history and misdirects inquiry.”[FN 157]
Additionally, under the subtitle “Resource Allocation,” the authors wrote: “Museum and art historical resources are always limited. What gets acquired, displayed, conserved and studied is the result of a continuous process of triage, in which some objects can be favoured only at the expenses of others. Counterfeit objects distort the process.”[FN 158]
Finally, under the subtitle “Fraud,” the authors wrote: “There remains the most obvious harm of all: counterfeit cultural objects are instruments of fraud. Most are created in order to deceive and defraud, but even “innocent” counterfeits can, and often will, be so used. The same considerations of justice and social order that make deliberate fraud of others kinds criminal apply equally to fraud through the medium of counterfeit art.”[FN 159]
CONCLUSION
What needs to be accomplished is the full and honest disclosure of all reproductions as -reproductions- by all museums, auction houses and art dealers. If the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation will give full and honest disclosure for all reproductions as: -reproductions- it would allow museum patrons to give informed consent on whether they wish to attend an exhibit of reproductions, much less forgeries, not to mention whether to join and support the museum as a member for prices ranging from $65 for general membership to $1,000 to 100,000 “tax deductible gifts" membership.
But if these objects are not reproductions by definition and law, but -forgeries- with or without counterfeit signatures or inscriptions applied, much less posthumous, to create the illusion the artist created it, much less approved and signed it, then serious consequences of law may come into play for those who chose to misrepresent these -forgeries- for profit.
The reputations and legacy of living and past artists, present and future museum art patrons and the art-buying public deserve the re-establishment of the obvious; that the living presence and participation of the artist to once again be required, as it always should have been, to create the piece of art attributable to the artist if indeed it is attributed to them, much less purported to have been signed by them.
FOOTNOTES:
1. ”The Thinker was made in 1880 and it is the oldest sculpture in the Park.” http://www.nelson-atkins.org/desktopguide/scriptsup.cfm?id=56316&object=326&col=Kansas%20City%20Sculture%20Park&supid=306 “Auguste Rodin, French, 1840-1917, Adam, 1880, Bronze, 6 feet 5 inches x 29 inches x 29 inches (195.58 x 73.66 x 73.66 cm), Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust, 55-70, Location: Gallery Sculpture Hall” http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/CollectionDatabase_ImageView.cfm?id=678&theme=Euro
2. © 1999 By West Group, ISBN: 0314022864
3. http://www.nelson-atkins.org/welcome/Mission.cfm
4. p 290, "Rodin and His Founders" essay by former Musee Rodin curator Monique Laurent in the National Gallery of Art's published 1981 Rodin Rediscovered catalogue ISBN: 0-89468-001-3 (pbk) The former Musee Rodin curator wrote: "starting in March 1902, the uninterrupted production of the firm concerned in reality the activity of Alexis's son Eugene - Eugene Rudier remained until his death in 1952, the sole founder for the museum, still using the mark of his father Alexis. This mark would continue until Georges Rudier, Eugene's nephew, took over the directing of the business and made casts under his own name."
5. Library of Congress Catalog No: 99-072906 ISBN: 9655319- 5-3
6. p 241, RODIN by Raphael Masson and Veronique Mattiussi, © Editions Flammarion, Paris-Musee Rodin, 2004, ISBN (Edition Flammarion): 2-0803-0445-3
7. © 1999 By West Group, ISBN: 0314022864
8. Ibid
9. www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#101
10.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/studio33/listen_.cfm?id=56316&object=326col=Kansas%20City%20Sculture%20Park
11.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/CollectionDatabase_ImageView.cfm?id=999999theme=KCSP&Audio=280
12. 1999 By West Group, ISBN: 0314022864
13. Ibid
14.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/CollectionDatabase_ImageView.cm?id=678&theme=Euro
15.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/CollectionDatabase_ImageView.cm?id=5631&theme=KCSP
16.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/rodin/rediscover.cfm
17.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions /rodin/rediscover.cfm
18.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/rodin/rediscover.cfm
19.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/rodin/rediscover.cfm
20. 1971, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, ASIN B00070XCEO
21.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/support/Membership.cfm
22. © 1980, ISBN: 0-394-43500-1
23.http://www.nelson-atkins.org/support/Membership.cfm
24.www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/rodin/rodininstallvideo.cfm
25. © 1999 By West Group, ISBN: 0314022864
26. www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_new=40423&int_sec=2
27. Copyright 2001 by the Association of Art Museum Directors, ISBN: 1-880974-02-9
28. Ibid
29. Published in 2001 by the Association of Art Museum Directors, 41 East 65th Street, New York, New York 10021, ISBN: 1-880974-02-9
30. www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#101
31. Ibid
32. http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#106a
33. National Gallery of Art's published 1981 Rodin Rediscovered catalogue ISBN: 0-89468-001-3 (pbk)
34. Library of Congress Catalog No:99-072906, ISBN: 9655319-5-3
35. www.musee-rodin.fr/welcome.htm
HOW TO FIND THIS MUSEE RODIN QUOTE:
First, go to the www.musee-rodin.fr/welcome.htm website,
then under “Contents on the left column click on “Collections,”
once on new screen click on the “Meudon” button,
then scroll down new screen till you reach the photograph of
“Assemblage of two figures of Even and crouching women”
and then count fourteen lines down for the quote.
36. Copyright © Bena Mayer, Executrix of the Estate of Ralph Mayer, 1991, ISBN :0-06-461012-8 (pbk.)
37. Ibid
38. National Gallery of Art's published 1981 Rodin Rediscovered catalogue ISBN: 0-89468-001-3 (pbk)
39. Ibid
40.http://www.getty.edu/vow/AATFullDisplay?find=counterfeit&logic=AND¬e=& english=N&prev_page=1&subjectid=300121305
41.http://www.cantorfoundation.org/resources/laws-govern-casting-rodins-work
42.http://www.cantorfoundation.org/Rodin/Bronze/rbrz.html
43.http://www.cantorfoundation.org/resources/laws-govern-casting-rodins-work
44.www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#101
45. Copyright © 1988 by Ste Nile des Editions du Chene, ISBN: 0-850-1252-4
46. Ibid
47. Excerpt from: “SUMMARY: AUTHORIZED POSTHUMOUS CASTING OF THE WORK OF AUGUSTE RODIN” paper distributed by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation [Source: News Media]
47. National Gallery of Art's published 1981 Rodin Rediscovered catalogue, ISBN: 0-89468-001-3 (pbk)
49. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
50. Ibid
51. p 175, Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession, Copyright © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN: 1-85894 143 1 hardback
52. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
53. © 1999 By West Group, ISBN: 0314022864
54. www.consulfrance-chicago.org/IMG/pdf/Rodin_Exhibition.pdf
55. Ibid
56. http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/rodin/
57. www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#101
58. Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession, Copyright © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN :1-85894 143 1 hardback
59. http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/Exhibitions.cfm?id=127
60. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
61. National Gallery of Art’s published 1981 Rodin Rediscovered ISBN 0-89468-001-3 (pbk)
62. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
63. Volume 1, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
64. Ibid
65. Copyright © Bena Mayer, Executrix of the Estate of Ralph Mayer, 1991, ISBN :0-06-461012-8 (pbk.)
66. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
67. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
68. Volume 1, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
69. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
70. Volume 1, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
71. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
72. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
73. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
74. www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/rodin/rodininstallvideo.cfm
75. Ibid
76. Copyright © 1980 BY RANDOM HOUSE, INC., ISBN: 0-394043500-1
77. Forward, AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection and The B. G. Cantor Art Foundation published by William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts 1971, ASIN: B00070XCEO
78. p 70, of Ralph Mayer’s 1999 HarperCollins Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Copyright © Bena Mayer, Executrix of the Estate of Ralph Mayer, 1991, ISBN: 0-06-461012-8 (pbk.)
79. Copyright © 1988 by Ste Nile des Editions du Chene, ISBN: 0-8050-1252-4
80. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
81. Ibid
82. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
83. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
84. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
85. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
86. Ibid
87. ibid
88. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
89. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
90. Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
91. Ibid
92. Ibid
93. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
94. Ibid
95. “47. HAND OF RODIN WITH TORSO, (Main de Rodin avec Torse), 1917, Bronze, 7 x 9 x 5 1/2 inches, B. Gerald Cantor Collection,” AUGUSTE RODIN from The B. Gerald Cantor Collection and The B. G. Cantor Art Foundation published by William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts 1971, ASIN: B00070XCEO
96. ISBN: (Musee Rodin) 2-9014-2858-1
97. Copyright © 1976 by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, ISBN: 0-87923-157-2
98. Ibid, p 348, Philadelphia Museum of Art’s published 1976 Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, the author John Tancock wrote: “The Age of Bronze was the work intended to “establish his reputation,” hence the bitterness over the false accusations and the doggedness of his attempts to prove himself.”
99. Musee Rodin board meeting, 1926. The museum itself used them as gifts on several occasions to thank certain collaborators, such as the "former pupil of the Louvre" whohad come to install "with great taste and care" the antique ceramic cabinets at the museum in 1945, or the lawyer who helped the museum win the Rudier succession case in 1965.
100. Eleven
hands or assemblages base on hands were listed in the catalogue at the
sale of his collection [Paris, Palais Galliera, 26 November 1976
101.
"It is evident that a replica of this hand cannot be sold in alabaster
or plaster. But in making a bronze cast, without asking a exorbitant
price, we could get around this difficulty." Musee rodin board meeting, 2
June 1927
102. Plasters (14.9 x 22.9 x 11.8 cm) , S. 834,; S. 839, S.
3338; lssy-les-Moulineaux, Musee de la Carte a Jouer, gift of Mme. Paul
Cruet, 1966 (with the dedication: Pur Marielle Main de A. Rodin Noel
1917 P.C.); New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Malvina
Hoffman, 1966, Philadelphia, Rodin, Museum, Washington, D.C., National
Gallery of Art, gift of Mrs. John W. Simpson, 1942,, Bronzes, four casts
by Alexis Rudier in 1930 and 1931, Hagerstown [Md.], Washington County
Museum, acq. 1930; The Hague, Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst. Ten further
casts by Georges Rudier, between 1966 and 1976: 7/12 1971, Brooklyn
Museum of Art, gift of the Cantor Foundation, 1984; 8/12 © 1973,
Stanford University, Cantor Arts Center, gift of the Cantor Foundation,
1964.103. © Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation 2001, ISBN 1-85894-143 hardback
104. Ibid
105. Ibid
106. Ibid
107. p 177, 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin by Antoinette Normand-Romain, Volume 2, © Musee Rodin, Musee Rodin 979-2-9014-2890-9, RMN: 978-2-7118-4941-3, Paris 2007
108. p 16, Renoir Sculptor by Paul Haesaerts, Published 1947, Printed by V. Van Dieren and Co and J. E. Buschmann, Printed in Belgium
109. Ibid
110. p 75 of the Renoir in the 20th Century catalogue, in the “Renoir the Sculptor?” essay by Conservateur du patrimoine, adminstratrice adjointe de la RMN, en charge de la politique scientifique Emmanuelle Heran, Edited by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Philadelphia © Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfidern, and authors, ISBN: 978-3-7757-2539-2
111. Ibid
112. Renoir Sculptor by Paul Haesaerts, Published 1947, Printed by V. Van Dieren and Co and J. E. Buschmann, Printed in Belgium
113. © 1999 By West Group, ISBN: 0314022864
114. Ibid
115. Copyright © 1994, ISBN: 0-88740-629-7
116. http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/tbio?tperson=1209
117. Art Journal © 1995 College Art Association, http://www.jstor.org/pss/777513
118. © 1998 National Gallery of Art ISBN 0-300-07517-0
119.http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060803230342AAEHfdg
120. © 2010 ISBN 978-0-691-14897-7, National Gallery of Art, Washington, www.nga.gov
121. Copyright © 1999, By West Group, ISBN 0-314-22864-0
122.http://hirshhorn.si.edu/search.asp?search=sculpture+in+our+time
123. Copyright © 1967 by Dover Publications, Inc., ISBN: 0-486-21872-4)
124. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-3000-5462-9
125. Copyright © Bena Mayer, Executrix of the Estate of Ralph Mayer, 1991, ISBN :0-06-461012-8 (pbk.)
126.http://www.mentalcontagion.com/mcarchive/examinations/examinations0503.html
127.http://www.getty.edu/vow/AATFullDisplay?find=counterfeit&logic=AND¬e=& english=N&prev_page=1&subjectid=300121305
128. Copyright 2001 by the Association of Art Museum Directors, ISBN: 1-880974-02-9
129. © 1996 by the Trustees of the Nelson Gallery Foundation, ISBN 0-942614-26-7
130. Copyright © 1967 by Dover Publications, Inc., ISBN: 0-486-21872-4)
131. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-3000-5462-9
132. Copyright 2001 by the Association of Art Museum Directors, ISBN: 1-880974-02-9
133. © 1999 By West Group, ISBN: 0314022864
134. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Faun
135. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/arts/13gauguin.html
136. Ibid
137. www.collegeart.org/guidelines/sculpture
138. http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=5829654
139. In Paul Duro and Michael Greenhalgh’s published Essential Art History, “connoisseurship” is defined as: “that of the art expert able to distinguish between the authentic and non-authentic, for example between an original and a copy.”
140.http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2007-12-16/news/0712140412_1_george-greenhalgh-paul-gauguin-claude-emile-schuffenecker
141. http://www.artic.edu/aic/aboutus/wip/index.html
142.www.artic.edu/aic/collections/citi/object?id=100051&artist=dalou&keyword=
143. Ibid
144. Copyright © 1994 by Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., ISBN: 0-8109-0804-2
145. Ibid
146. www.sothebys.com
147.www.artic.edu/aic/collections/citi/object?id=100051&artist=dalou&keyword=
148. www.collegeart.org/guidelines/sculpture
149. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Faun
150. © 1999 By West Group, ISBN: 0314022864
151. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/arts/13gauguin.html
152. Copyright © Reaktion Books, Ltd, 1997, ISBN: 18 61890 02 8
153. Allworth Press; 4th edition (January 1, 1999), ISBN-10: 1581150032, ISBN-13: 978-1581150032
154. www.conseildela sculpture.ca
155. Ibid
156. © Kluwer Law International 1998, ISBN: 90-411-0697-9
157. Ibid
158. Ibid
159. Ibid
ADDENDUM:
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s Sales Promotion for Membership
SOURCE: http://www.nelson-atkins.org/support/Membership.cfm
Friends of Art
Our general membership group. Friends keep the Museum’s collection free every day for everyone. Members enjoy attractive benefits and enhanced art experiences starting at just $65!
Society of Fellows
Premiere sustainers of the collection. Fellows are dedicated to preserving the Nelson-Atkins’ most important asset and ensuring its enjoyment for future generations. Privileges include private events, discounts on Museum venue rentals and travel opportunities.
Patron $1,000 ($83.33/mo)
Tax-deductible amount $940
Unlimited free exhibition tickets, and 25 percent off Museum venue rental fees. Fellows enjoy reciprocal member privileges to 300 art museums.
Sustaining $2,000 ($166.65/mo)
Tax-deductible amount $1,940
In addition to Patron benefits, receive curator consultation on art acquisitions or your private collection, and 35 percent off Museum venue rental fees.
Nelson Society $3,000 ($250.00/mo)
Tax-deductible amount $2,910
Go behind-the-scenes or meet the artist with special invitations to upper-level Fellows events. Nelson Society members also receive 50 percent off Museum venue rental fees.
Benefactor $5,000
Tax-deductible amount $4,820
All Nelson Society benefits, plus an elegant, complimentary lunch for 4 guests with the Director or curator and a beautiful, full-color Museum catalogue. Benefactors will have the opportunity to host an event in one of five rental venues and the Museum will waive the rental venue fees (applicable to Museum operating hours).
Ambassador $10,000
Tax-deductible amount $9,700
Our premiere membership level features a private tour and complimentary reception for 8 guests. You also receive personal ticket assistance for special exhibitions at US Museums and the opportunity to host an event in one of five rental venues and the Museum will waive the rental fees (applicable to Museum operating hours).
Business Council
Where business and art intersect. The Business Council is an essential partner in supporting the region’s cultural and educational life. Benefits are tailored to meet the needs of companies and their employees.
Partner $3,500-$5,499 ($2,860 tax-deductible)
This entry-level membership offers recognition for your company, one Society of Fellows membership, one Corporate Employee Day, invitations to opening events and exhibition vouchers for your colleagues, clients and employees.
Executive $5,500-$9,999 ($4,460 tax deductible)
This enhanced level includes one, free annual Museum rental, employee membership discounts and executive lunch privileges in Rozzelle Court.
Director $10,000-$24,999 ($8,535 tax deductible)
Great for behind the scenes access to the Museum. Host a curator-led exhibition or gallery tour, receive curatorial consultation on your corporate art collection and logo recognition on our e-newsletter.
Leader $25,000-$49,999 ($23,295 tax deductible)
Tour the Painting and Objects conservation studios (max. 10 people) and receive ticket assistance for special exhibitions at US museums. Membership in the Director’s Circle and enhanced recognition is also included.
President $50,000-$99,999 ($47,895 tax deductible).
All of the benefits listed above including a greater employee membership discount and additional memberships in the Society of Fellows.
Chairman $100,000+ ($97,375 tax deductible).
The pinnacle of corporate support, Chairman level members receive the maximum of all Business Council benefits.
ADDENDUM:
List of known The Thinker casts -79 inch high-
SOURCE: p 587, Musee Rodin’s 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin by Antoinette Le Normand Romain
[NOTE: Subtitles, Notes, numbering 1-21 casts and chronological order mine]
A.A. HEBRARD FOUNDRY
- 1 of 21 1903, University of Louisville, Alle R. Hite Institute, gift of Arthur E. Hopkins, 1949 [acq. Henry Walters at the exh. 1904, St. Louis, 25,000 francs;; Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery; acq. Hopkins, 1949]
- 2 of 21 1904: Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, acq. Carl Jacobsen, 1906, for the sum of 15,000 marks [ie., 18,750 francs
- 3 of 21 1903: Detroit Institute of Arts, acq by Horace H. Rackham, as a gift to the museum, 1922 [former coll. of Dr. Linde, Lubeck, commissioned in 1903, 14,000 francs; exh. 1904, Paris, Salon, no. 2079, 1904 - 5, Leipzig; 1905, Berlin, Keller and Reiner Gallery]
- 4 of 21 1904, : S. 1295, [p. 586: Provenance: purchased through a subscription fund as a gift to the French state, 1904, unveiled outside the Pantheon on 21 April 1906, transferred to the Musee Rodin, 1922, permanently installed on 2 Februrary 1923.
- 5 of 21 1906. Buenos Aires, Plaza de los Dos Congresso, acq. 1907 through Eduardo Schiaffino, 15,000 francs
- 6 of 21 1909, Stockholm, Prince Eugens Waldemarsudde , acq. 1909, 14,000 francs
- 7 of 21 1914, San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, gift Mrs. Spreckesl through Loie Fuller at the exh. 1915, San Francisco, no. 93; transferred to the museum, 1924
- 8 of 21 1916, Cleveland Museum of Art , gift of Raph King, 1917 [acq. 1916, through Mrs. Simpson, 26,000 francs; see Mrs. Simpson to Rodin, 29 November 1915, 20 January and 8 September 1916, and Knoedler Benedite correspondence, 1917 Musee Rodin archives. This bronze was irreparably damaged by a pipe bomb in 1970]
- 9 of 21 1917, Rodin Tomb’s [commissioned 1917, delivered 1918]
- 10 of 21 1919, Philadelphia, Rodin Museum , entered the museu, 1928 [cast in 1919 for Matsukata; acq. Jules Mastbaum, 1925]
- 11 of 21 [acq. 1923], Kyoto, National Museum, acq. 1953 [acq. D’Oelsnitz, 1923; Soda Coll., then Matsuura in Japan; transferred to the museum before its acquisition]
- 12 of 21 1925, Bruxelles, Laeken cemetery [acq. Jef Dillen, 1926, to be placed on his tomb]
- 13 of 21 [acq.1926], Tokyo, National Museum of Western Art, joined the collections in 1959 [commissioned in 1918 and paid for in 1919 by Kojiro Matsukata, but the bronze cast was sent to Mastbaum and replaced by a cast made in 1926; exh. 1930, Brussels, no. ?]
- 14 of 21 1928, Baltimore Museum of Art, gift of Jacob M. Epstein, 1928 [cast in 1928] with a base identical to that of the Pantheon
- 15 of 21 1930, New York, Columbia University, cast in 1930 for Columbia University
- 16 of 21 1942 Moscow, Pushkin Museum, incorporated into the collections; 1951 [probably the cast made in 1942
- 17 of 21 1950, Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department, on loan to, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art
NOTE: Auguste Rodin, The Thinker, 1880, Bronze, Location: Gallery KCSP, model 1880,, cast after 1902, Bronze, Location: Gallery KCSP
http://www.nelson-atkins.org/desktopguide/script.cfm?id=56316&object=326&col=Kansas%20City%20Sculture%20Park
GEORGES RUDIER FOUNDRY
- 18 of 21 1965, Shizuoka Prefectoral Museum of Art, no. 8, gift of Ryoei Saito, 1991
- 19 of 21 1966, Bielefeld Kunsthalle, no. 9, 1966, Bielefeld, Kunsthalle, acq. 1967
- 20 of 21 [acq. 1968], Stanford University, Cantor Arts Center, no. 10, loaned by the Cantor Foundation, acq. 1968 [with the promise of a gift]
- 21 of 21 [acq. 1969], Pasadena, Norton Simon Art Foundation, No. 11, acq. 1969
- 22 of 21 1974, Nagoya City Museum , No. 12, acq. 1977
ADDENDUM:
List of known Adam casts
SOURCE: p 115, Musee Rodin’s 2007 The Bronzes of Rodin by Antoinette Le Normand Romain
[NOTE: Subtitles, Notes, numbering 1-25 casts and chronological order mine]
ALEXIS RUDIER FOUNDRY
- 1 of 25 "1910, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Thomas F. Ryan, 1910 (purchased for 20,000 francs);
- 2 and 3 of 25 "1919, two casts (28 February and 24 March) for the price of 8,100 francs each: one “for the tomb” (to replace the plaster installed before 1917 in one of the niches on the façade of the Château of Issy-les-Moulineaux after the latter was moved to Meudon; vandalized in May 1925 when one arm was sawn off) and the other for Kojiro Matsukata, according to a handwritten annotation probably by Hippeau, the museum archivist from 1926 onward;
- 4 of 25 "commissioned in 1922, delivered in September 1923, for the price of 17,000 francs, to Matsukata.
ALEXIS RUDIER FOUNDRY
- 5 of 25 "Chicago Art Institute, gift of Robert Allerton, 1924 (commissioned in May 1923);
- 6 of 25 "Philadelphia, Rodin Museum, second commission from Jules Mastbaum, 1925;
- 7 of 25 "Kyoto, Municipal Museum of Art, acq. by the City of Kyoto with the help of Asahi Shimbun, 1930 (cast imported into Japan by D’Oelsnitz c. 1926; Kichiro Soda Coll., Yokohama, then Taku Matsuura Coll., Kobe; installed outside the Kyoto town hall, 1930, then transferred to the museum).
ALEXIS RUDIER FOUNDRY
- 8 of 25 “for the park” (S. 962) and Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, gift of Samuel Wood, 1929;
- 9 of 25 "cast exhibited in 1931, Munich, damaged in the fire that broke out in the building (only the torso survived, according to a photograph in the Musée Rodin archives), possibly Tel Aviv Museum, gift of Aron Hirsch, 1950;
- 10 of 25 "1942?, Tokyo, National Museum of Western Art, joined the collections in 1959 (commissioned by Kojiro Matsukata in 1918);
- 11 of 25 "Kansas City, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, from Eugène Rudier, 1955.
Ten additional copies cast by Georges Rudier: (no. 2, 1954, and nos. 4–12, 1964–75)
GEORGES RUDIER FOUNDRY
- 12 of 25 "no. 2, 1954, Jerusalem, Israel Museum, gift of Billy Rose, 1966;
- 13 of 25 "no. 4, © 1964, Zwolle, the Netherlands, Groot Kerkplein, gift of Beeldenroute Overijssel Foundation to the City of Zwolle, 1967;
- 14 of 25 "no. 5, 1966, sale, New York, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 13 May 1970, no. 19 (sold by the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, which had purchased it from the Musée Rodin in 1967);
- 15 of 25 "no. 6, 1968;
- 16 of 25 "no. 8, 1970, Montclair (N.J.), Kasser Art Foundation, loaned to Tulsa, Philbrook Museum of Art, c. 1990;
- 17 of 25 "no. 10, 1972;
- 18 of 25
- 19 of 25
- 20 of 25
- 21 of 25
- 22 of 25 "no. 9 (eighth cast), 1972, Musée Rodin (S. 1303); [Note: p 115, The Bronzes of Rodin, 1303 cast by Susse Foundry]
- 23 of 25 "no. 11, © 1974, Stanford University, Cantor Arts Center, gift of Cantor Foundation, 1985. Cast by Susse:
- 24 of 25 "no. 12, 1974, Perth, Art Gallery of Western Australia, acq. 1977. Cast by Fonderie de Coubertin:
- 25 of 25 "7/8, © 1984, Los Angeles, Cantor Coll.
- 6. "Stone version commissioned by Robert Allerton in 1924 and carved by Charles Laing (1878–1959) in 1925, probably after the bronze given to Chicago by Allerton: Robert Allerton Park, Piatt County, Illinois."
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