AUGUSTE RODIN (1840-1917)Le Baiser, 1ère réductionAUGUSTE RODIN (1840-1917)Le Baiser, 1ère réductionsigned 'Rodin' (on the right of the rock); inscribed with foundry mark 'F. BARBEDIENNE. Fondeur' (on the left edge of the rock)bronze with dark brown patinaHeight: 27 1/2 in. (71.5 cm.)Conceived in 1886; this bronze version cast in February 1912Details AUGUSTE RODIN (1840-1917)Le Baiser, 1ère réductionsigned Rodin (on the right of the rock); inscribed with foundry mark F. BARBEDIENNE. Fondeur (on the left edge of the rock)bronze with dark brown patinaHeight: 27 1/2 in. (71.5 cm.)Conceived in 1886; this bronze version cast in February 1912 Provenance Lassociation des Amis de Saint-Julien en Genevois et de larrondissement, Saint-Julien-en-Genevois.Fernand David, Paris and Saint-Julien-en-Genevois (gift from the above, 24 February 1912, then by descent).Galerie Vallois, Paris (1989).Anon. sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 24 June 1992, lot 224.Acquired at the above sale by the late owner.This work will be included in the forthcoming Auguste Rodin catalogue critique de loeuvre sculpté currently being prepared by the Comité Auguste Rodin at Galerie Brame et Lorenceau under the direction of Jérôme Le Blay under the archive number 2021-646 IB. Literature G. Grappe, Catalogue du Musée Rodin, Paris, 1927, p. 47, nos. 91-92 (marble version illustrated).G. Grappe, Le Musée Rodin, Paris, 1947, p. 142 (marble version illustrated, pl. 71).C. Goldscheider, Rodin, Paris, 1962, p. 49 (marble version illustrated).A.E. Elsen, Rodin, New York, 1963, pp. 62-63 (larger bronze version illustrated, p. 63; dated 1880-1882).R. Descharnes and J.-F. Chabrun, Auguste Rodin, London, 1967, p. 130 (marble version illustrated in situ at the Musée Rodin, Paris, p. 131).I. Jianou and C. Goldscheider, Rodin, Paris, 1967, p. 100 (detail of marble version illustrated, pl. 54; marble version illustrated, pl. 55).L. Goldscheider, Rodin Sculptures, London, 1970, p. 121, no. 49 (marble version illustrated).J.L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia, 1976, pp. 72, 90 and 108, no. 151 (marble version illustrated in situ at the Salon of 1898, p. 77).J. de Caso and P. Sanders, Rodins Sculpture: A Critical Study of the Spreckels Collection, San Francisco, 1977, pp. 148-153, no. 22 (smaller bronze version illustrated, pp. 148 and 150).R.M. Rilke, Rodin, Salt Lake City, 1982, pp. 38 and 104 (another cast illustrated, p. 39).A.E. Elsen, The Gates of Hell by Auguste Rodin, Stanford, 1985, pp. 78 and 80-81 (another cast illustrated, p. 79, fig. 70).N. Barbier, Marbres de Rodin: Collection du Musée Rodin, Paris, 1987, pp. 184 and 258, no. 79 (marble version illustrated, pp. 185 and 187).A. Le Normand-Romain, Le Baiser de Rodin, Paris, 1995, pp. 20-21 (another cast illustrated, p. 20, fig. 2; plaster version illustrated, p. 20, fig. 3).J. Vilain, Rodin at the Musée Rodin, Paris, 1996, p. 39 (large marble version illustrated in color).A. Le Normand-Romain, Rodin, Paris, 1997, p. 49 (terracotta version illustrated in color, p. 48).R. Butler and S.G. Lindsay, European Sculpture of the Nineteenth Century: The Collections of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2000, pp. 326 and 329-330 (another cast illustrated in color, pp. 327-328; plaster version illustrated, p. 329, fig. 1; marble version illustrated in situ at the Salon of 1898, p. 329, fig. 2).A. Pingeot, Rodin au Musée du Luxembourg in La Revue du Musée dOrsay, Fall 2000, pp. 67-70 and 74, no. 8 (marble version illustrated in situ at the Musée du Luxembourg, p. 74).A.E. Elsen, Rodins Art: The Rodin Collection of the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for the Visual Arts at Stanford University, New York, 2003, pp. 214-215, no. 49 (another cast illustrated, p. 215, fig. 167).R. Masson and V. Mattiussi, Rodin, Paris, 2004, p. 40 (detail of marble version illustrated in color, p. 41; terracotta version illustrated in color, p. 42).A. Le Normand-Romain, The Bronzes of Rodin: Catalogue of Works in the Musée Rodin, Paris, 2007, vol. I, p. 160 (other casts illustrated, pp. 159-161; marble version illustrated, p. 163, figs. 1-3).A. Le Normand-Romain, Rodin, New York, 2014, pp. 133-134 (terracotta version illustrated in color, p. 132; marble version illustrated, pp. 133 and 135). Exhibited Paris, Galerie Vallois, Rodin César: Huit œuvres majeures, September-October 1989, pp. 24 and 28 (illustrated, p. 28). Conditions of saleProperty from a Private California Collection