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Seminal and highly lauded French sculptor (1840–1917) whose works, including the iconic ‘The Kiss’ and ‘The Thinker,’ earned him a place among the most influential artistic figures of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ALS in French, signed “Aug. Rodin,” two pages on two adjoining sheets, 4.75 x 6.5, 77 Rue de Varenne letterhead, May 7, 1911. Handwritten letter to French poet and art critic Charles Morice, in full (translated): "Mr. Mathias Morhardt, editor of Le Temps, has written to ask me to publish in that newspaper an unpublished page from The Cathedrals of France. Please, therefore, choose this page and come by one of these days to 77 Rue de Varenne to show it to me. I wish to read it before it appears. With my respects to Madame, please accept, my dear Morice, the expression of my warm regards and friendship." Rodin adds a postscript: "I would be pleased to see you again and speak with you about your artistic work." In fine condition.
Written to French poet, art critic, and Symbolist writer Charles Morice, one of Auguste Rodin’s closest literary collaborators, this letter concerns the preparation of material from Les Cathédrales de France for publication in Le Temps. Rodin informs Morice that journalist and critic Mathias Morhardt, then a writer for Le Temps, has requested an unpublished page from the cathedral manuscript and asks him to select a passage and bring it to 77 Rue de Varenne for review before publication. Dated May 1911, the letter falls during the period when Morice was actively assembling and organizing Rodin’s writings on French cathedrals, several years before their publication in book form in 1914. It also places Rodin at the Hôtel Biron, the former Paris mansion that he had recently begun to occupy and which would later become the Musée Rodin. As such, the letter documents both the development of one of Rodin’s major literary projects and his collaboration with two important figures in his artistic and intellectual circle.
From the personal collection of a lifelong collector, teacher, and traveler with a passion for world history. His collecting years ranged from the 1970s to the present day, meaning that several of the premier pieces have not been on the market in decades.
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