Modern

Rembrandt Bugatti

Italian, 1884-1916

Sladmore’s Modern department handles artworks from 1880, the birth of impressionism through Modernism and Abstraction to 1950. We hold specialist knowledge of the foundries and casting quality of this period. Spearheaded by Edward Horswell since 1985, this department has helped to co-ordinate major international museum shows, published award winning publications, and advises museums, public and private collections. We are collectors at heart, which makes us passionate about this period of sculpture.

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Auguste Rodin

French, 1840-1917

Art is contemplation. It is the pleasure of the mind which searches into nature, and which there divines the spirit of which nature herself is animated. Auguste Rodin

Bronze is a material well suited to Rodin’s sculptural style because it rendered all the subtleties of his modelling, as well as the vibrant movement of his compositions, without losing any of their lightness. This great talent for modelling, which characterised the work of Rodin during the 1880’s reached its peak with the 1890 Salon.

Later, he deliberately chose to simplify forms and planes, and perfected other techniques based on assembling existing fragments. This method enabled Rodin to build up, during the highly creative years devoted to ‘The Gates of Hell’ a vast repertoire consisting of several hundreds of figures and limbs of figures which he was to use in endless variations. Sir Gerald Kelly recorded “Small things, half life-size, and he never threw away a single one… They were arranged in shallow drawers… which had to be opened with great precaution so that they did not get stuck, and there were all these tiny hands, I loved to look at them. And he (Rodin) showed me the hands, and we picked one or two that were particularly good. I remember him holding a small hand in each of his and saying, ‘How good they are!’ with a big smile”.

More than any other sculptor, Rodin took full advantage of the possibility of modifying a work in one way or another.

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Francois Pompon

French, 1855-1933

‘You have to look at the animal from a distance. Close to you see all the unimportant detail. From a distance the subject takes on its real significance. The formal relationships become apparent. But you must still simplify, make sacrifices, and deform in order to gain expression.’ Francois Pompon

Pompon’s Polar Bear, begun in 1920 and reworked in different forms for almost fifteen years, cemented the artist’s reputation, becoming a classic of modern sculpture. A series of other signature pieces – panthers, doves, stags, bison and many others – issued from is hand, representing an extraordinary triumph over early adversity, and an increasing burgeoning of talent. Pompon resumed his study of domestic and farm animals also, and in 1931 he was instrumental in setting up ‘Les Douze’, an association of ‘Animaliers’. Other important members were Jouve, Poupelet and Guyot.

Pompon was among that generation who would shift the whole pattern of a career in sculpture away from official patronage and into the modern age of the art market.

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