Rodin_2011

21. Sapphic couple ( Couple saphique)

1898 – 1900 Graphite on wove paper mounted to board 9 ½ x 12 ½ inches ( 24 . 1 x 31 . 8 cm) Signed in graphite at the bottom left: A. R. Inscribed on the verso on the board: with stencil, black ink: A. Rodin / Drawing / Frame n°153 ; annotated with brush: a picture framer label 106 ; Moirinat .

exhibition Paris, Pavillon de l’Alma, 1900 , Druet number : 153 and hanging number: 106.

This Sapphic couple drawn with very refined lines who’s paleness is an invitation to look very closely had probably been pre-selected to be exhibited at the Pavillon de l’Alma, where Rodin organized his first grand Parisian retrospective. It includes all characteristics of the drawings of the Alma exhibition: it is glued on a board support with a number written with stencil (number 153) , has a number inscribed by hand ( 106) , and has the label of the picture framer Moirinat, who was solicited for all the drawings and pictures of this exhibit. However, this work does not appear on the list of the works registered in the so-called Cahier Gris that describes in detail the hanging order of the drawings. The pose of the two lovers was perhaps considered too audacious to be shown to the naïve audience of the World Fair. This drawing very probably suffered the same fate as its preparatory version done with graphite and stumping in the collection of the Rodin Museum, ( d59 6 7 ), and ended up in the portfolios of Rodin’s musée secret. In fact, Rodin kept in his studio hidden from public eye hundreds of erotic drawings and small délicieusement impudiques  that he never displayed in any exhibit. Only a few favored visitors could leaf through the drawings of this “secret museum.” This side of Rodin’s work was actually known since the time of the Nijinsky affair in 1912 . Rodin defended the dancer accused of obscenity for his performance in the ballet L’après- midi d’un Faun , and became the target of the conservative press that accused him of showing obscene drawings in a sacred location, the chapel of the Hôtel Biron. Rodin stood up for himself, asserting: “I have never shown certain drawings that were only for personal work, private research, studies made for my own use and that never came out from their portfolio.” 1

1 . “une après-midi chez Rodin” (An afternoon at Rodin’s), Gil Blas , June 7, 1912 .