Project “Provenienzrecherche Gurlitt”

© Project “Provenienzrecherche Gurlitt”
Object record excerpt for Lost Art ID: 533045
© A. W.
Auguste Rodin
Studies for the bust of Victor Hugo, c. 1883
Pen and pencil drawing on carton, washed, 415 x 333 mm
on recto, lower right, signed in pen: “A Rodin”; upper right, inscribed in pen: “A quelle plus proche /
[?] / que le feront le vuez[?]”; on matting, lower right, inscribed in pencil: “№ 4”
on verso, lower center, inscribed in pencil: “1”, beneath: “1∙3”, “13”; lower left, in pencil: “131_34”;
on matting, upper right, in pencil: “165”
Provenance:
(…)
(Probably acquired by Hildebrand Gurlitt in France in the 1940s)
By latest 2012: Cornelius Gurlitt, Munich/Salzburg
From 6 May 2014: Estate of Cornelius Gurlitt
26 April 2016 (interim results)
www.lostart.de/EN/Fund/533045
© Project “Provenienzrecherche Gurlitt”
Object record excerpt for Lost Art ID: 533045
Bibliographical reference:
Judrin, Claudie. “Rodin’s portrait drawings for and after his Bust of Victor Hugo,” pp. 163–173. In:
Master Drawings. Vol. 41, no. 2, New York: Master Drawings Association, 2003. [fig. 9, Studies for
the Bust of Victor Hugo, photograph by Charles Bodmer of a lost drawing, ill.]
Primary sources:
Condition Report, 3 April 2014, no. Wien-131_34
Cornelius Gurlitt Papers, Salzburg:
Photographs, no. 7.1_F125 [21 January 1941]
Photographs, no. 9.1_F901 [17 November 1943]
Correspondence Hildebrand Gurlitt – possible reference:
14 August 1947 [vol. 9, fol. 54ff]
Register of the Salzburg Estate, 2014, no. Wien-131_34
Further sources consulted (selected):
Mirbeau, Octave. Rodin et son œuvre. Paris: Ed. La Plume, 1900.
Cladel, Judith. Auguste Rodin: L’œuvre et l’homme. Brussels: G. van Oest & Cie, 1908.
Graphik alter Meister und einiger neuerer Künstler. Auct. cat., C. G. Boerner Leipzig, 18 February
1942.
Chase Geissbuhler, Elisabeth. Rodin: Later Drawings. London: Peter Owen, 1963.
Auguste Rodin: Plastik, Zeichnungen, Graphik. Exh. cat., Staatliche Museen zu Berlin,
Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 16 May–12 August 1979.
Judrin, Claudie. Inventaire des dessins. Vols. 1–5. Paris: Ed. du Musée Rodin, 1984–1992.
Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette. Rodin et le Bronze: Catalogue des œuvre conservées au Musée
Rodin. 2 vols. Paris: Éd. de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2007.
Business records Hildebrand Gurlitt
Cultural Plunder by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg: Database of Art Objects at the Jeu de
Paume
Database “Central Collecting Point München”
Database “Entartete Kunst“
Database “Kunstsammlung Hermann Göring”
Getty Provenance Index, German Sales Catalogs
Lootedart.com
Lost Art
Répertoire des Biens Spoliés
Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie
Verzeichnis national wertvoller Kunstwerke (“Reichsliste von 1938”)
Witt Library
26 April 2016 (interim results)
www.lostart.de/EN/Fund/533045
© Project “Provenienzrecherche Gurlitt”
Object record excerpt for Lost Art ID: 533045
Note:
The drawing is not included in the inventory of Rodin drawings by Judrin (1992).
A photograph of the drawing is shown in the article “Rodin’s portrait drawings for and after his
Bust of Victor Hugo” by Judrin (2003). The whereabouts of the work is listed as unknown.
In 1883, the journalist Edmond Bazire advised Rodin to make a portrait of the famous French
writer Victor Hugo. The artist made numerous drawings of Hugo from different standpoints
before he completed the bronze sculpture the same year.
Among the personal papers found in Cornelius Gurlitt’s Salzburg home is a collection of about
2400 photographs of artworks. Photograph no. 9.1_F901, is a reproduction of this work; inscribed
on verso, a statement of authenticity by art expert André Schoeller of Paris, 13, Rue de Téhéran,
dated 17 November 1943. This document shows that the work was on the market in the 1940s in
occupied France; there is a high probability that Gurlitt acquired the work during that period.
Rights:
All rights to this report belong to the German Lost Art Foundation under whose administration the
“Gurlitt Provenance Research” project operates.
Disclaimer:
The “Gurlitt Provenance Research” project, as the successor project of the Taskforce "Schwabing
Art Trove", focused exclusively on the provenance of the artwork described in this report. This
report does not purport to make pronouncements on any legal claims and legal positions.
Especially if individuals are referred to as descendants, this term is not based on a factual or legal
examination and is thus not binding. No liability will be accepted for conclusions drawn by the
addressee(s) or third parties based on this report.
The “Gurlitt Provenance Research” project endeavoured to ensure the accuracy and reliability of
the information provided in this report. No liability will be accepted, in particular, for: the
accuracy of the used sources; the facts, analyses and conclusions contained therein; the
exhaustiveness of research and evaluation of the available source material; any analyses or
conclusions drawn from the sources in the course of research; the findings on the subject of the
report and how they were derived; the authenticity of the artwork, its attribution to a particular
artist, or its monetary value.
This is a first interim report with basic information, the artwork is currently undergoing in-depthresearch or will undergo in-depth-research at a later point in time. This report is based on the
sources available at the time it was written. The conclusions drawn in this report may be revised,
should additional relevant material be discovered. The “Gurlitt Provenance Research” project
welcomes any information that may augment or clarify the provenance of this work.
26 April 2016 (interim results)
www.lostart.de/EN/Fund/533045