Latest news with #LeDésespoir
West Australian
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
A family thought the sculpture on their piano was a ‘fake' Rodin. Now it's sold for more than $1.5 million
A sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin — which had disappeared from public view for almost 120 years and was thought to be a copy — has sold for €860,000 ($A1,507,783.20) at auction. Le Désespoir (Despair) — which shows a female figure sitting on a rock holding one foot, with her knee hugged to her chest — was rediscovered at the end of 2024 after last being sold in 1906, French auction house Rouillac said. Rodin, who lived from 1840-1917, made several versions of Le Désespoir. This particular sculpture was modelled in 1890 and sculpted from marble in 1892-1893. Measuring just 28.5cm by 15cm by 25cm, the sculpture was originally modelled to form part of Rodin's monumental work The Gates Of Hell which features more than 200 figures and groups. The previous owners — a family from central France — had no idea of its value and had displayed the sculpture on top of a piano alongside family photos, auctioneer Aymeric Rouillac told CNN. 'They said 'it's a fake, it's a copy',' Rouillac said, adding he nevertheless decided to investigate further. The details of this sculpture are striking, Rouillac told CNN. 'The back, the muscles, they are perfect,' he said. 'You can feel every vertebra in the spinal column.' Following his own investigation, Rouillac took the sculpture for assessment by the Comité Rodin, which maintains a catalogue of the artist's work. Comité Rodin founder Jérôme Le Blay told CNN he was immediately struck by the 'exceptional' piece. 'I realised in a second that it was real,' he said. 'I had absolutely no doubt.' This particular example is 'extremely well made,' Le Blay said, adding it dates back to a period when Rodin was dedicating a huge amount of time to making a small number of sculptures. Rodin would have worked with assistants who would have carried out the initial work on a piece of marble, before he performed the final stages, he explained. According to Le Blay, the sculpture dates to 'one of the best moments of Rodin's career' before his growing fame meant he started to produce more and more works after the turn of the century. Upon his death, Rodin left his works to the Musée Rodin in Paris, as well as granting it permission to continue producing his bronze sculptures. While many of these posthumous bronzes go under the hammer each year, marbles are much harder to find, Le Blay said. Most of Rodin's marbles are owned by the Musée Rodin or by other large museums around the world. 'Marbles in private collections are rare,' he said, adding this piece has a 'kind of magic' due to the fact it has reappeared for sale after such a long time. In a 'passionate' auction, the top bid was made by a young banker from the US West Coast, according to the auction house.
Perth Now
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Family's ‘fake' art piece sells for more than $1.5 million
A sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin — which had disappeared from public view for almost 120 years and was thought to be a copy — has sold for €860,000 ($A1,507,783.20) at auction. Le Désespoir (Despair) — which shows a female figure sitting on a rock holding one foot, with her knee hugged to her chest — was rediscovered at the end of 2024 after last being sold in 1906, French auction house Rouillac said. Rodin, who lived from 1840-1917, made several versions of Le Désespoir. This particular sculpture was modelled in 1890 and sculpted from marble in 1892-1893. Measuring just 28.5cm by 15cm by 25cm, the sculpture was originally modelled to form part of Rodin's monumental work The Gates Of Hell which features more than 200 figures and groups. The previous owners — a family from central France — had no idea of its value and had displayed the sculpture on top of a piano alongside family photos, auctioneer Aymeric Rouillac told CNN. 'They said 'it's a fake, it's a copy',' Rouillac said, adding he nevertheless decided to investigate further. The details of this sculpture are striking, Rouillac told CNN. 'The back, the muscles, they are perfect,' he said. 'You can feel every vertebra in the spinal column.' Following his own investigation, Rouillac took the sculpture for assessment by the Comité Rodin, which maintains a catalogue of the artist's work. The detail on one of the feet of the sculpture. Credit: Guillaume Souvant/AFP via Getty Images Comité Rodin founder Jérôme Le Blay told CNN he was immediately struck by the 'exceptional' piece. 'I realised in a second that it was real,' he said. 'I had absolutely no doubt.' This particular example is 'extremely well made,' Le Blay said, adding it dates back to a period when Rodin was dedicating a huge amount of time to making a small number of sculptures. Rodin would have worked with assistants who would have carried out the initial work on a piece of marble, before he performed the final stages, he explained. According to Le Blay, the sculpture dates to 'one of the best moments of Rodin's career' before his growing fame meant he started to produce more and more works after the turn of the century. Upon his death, Rodin left his works to the Musée Rodin in Paris, as well as granting it permission to continue producing his bronze sculptures. While many of these posthumous bronzes go under the hammer each year, marbles are much harder to find, Le Blay said. Most of Rodin's marbles are owned by the Musée Rodin or by other large museums around the world. 'Marbles in private collections are rare,' he said, adding this piece has a 'kind of magic' due to the fact it has reappeared for sale after such a long time. In a 'passionate' auction, the top bid was made by a young banker from the US West Coast, according to the auction house.
7NEWS
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
A family thought the sculpture on their piano was a ‘fake' Rodin. Now it's sold for more than $1.5 million
A sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin — which had disappeared from public view for almost 120 years and was thought to be a copy — has sold for €860,000 ($A1,507,783.20) at auction. Le Désespoir (Despair) — which shows a female figure sitting on a rock holding one foot, with her knee hugged to her chest — was rediscovered at the end of 2024 after last being sold in 1906, French auction house Rouillac said. Rodin, who lived from 1840-1917, made several versions of Le Désespoir. This particular sculpture was modelled in 1890 and sculpted from marble in 1892-1893. Measuring just 28.5cm by 15cm by 25cm, the sculpture was originally modelled to form part of Rodin's monumental work The Gates Of Hell which features more than 200 figures and groups. The previous owners — a family from central France — had no idea of its value and had displayed the sculpture on top of a piano alongside family photos, auctioneer Aymeric Rouillac told CNN. 'They said 'it's a fake, it's a copy',' Rouillac said, adding he nevertheless decided to investigate further. The details of this sculpture are striking, Rouillac told CNN. 'The back, the muscles, they are perfect,' he said. 'You can feel every vertebra in the spinal column.' Following his own investigation, Rouillac took the sculpture for assessment by the Comité Rodin, which maintains a catalogue of the artist's work. Comité Rodin founder Jérôme Le Blay told CNN he was immediately struck by the 'exceptional' piece. 'I realised in a second that it was real,' he said. 'I had absolutely no doubt.' This particular example is 'extremely well made,' Le Blay said, adding it dates back to a period when Rodin was dedicating a huge amount of time to making a small number of sculptures. Rodin would have worked with assistants who would have carried out the initial work on a piece of marble, before he performed the final stages, he explained. According to Le Blay, the sculpture dates to 'one of the best moments of Rodin's career' before his growing fame meant he started to produce more and more works after the turn of the century. Upon his death, Rodin left his works to the Musée Rodin in Paris, as well as granting it permission to continue producing his bronze sculptures. While many of these posthumous bronzes go under the hammer each year, marbles are much harder to find, Le Blay said. Most of Rodin's marbles are owned by the Musée Rodin or by other large museums around the world. 'Marbles in private collections are rare,' he said, adding this piece has a 'kind of magic' due to the fact it has reappeared for sale after such a long time. In a 'passionate' auction, the top bid was made by a young banker from the US West Coast, according to the auction house.
Indian Express
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Rediscovery of Rodin's Despair — and lessons in rejuvenation
For years, it sat atop the family piano, a purported reproduction of a piece from Auguste Rodin's monumental The Gates of Hell. Now, the 11-inch sculpture of a woman clutching her foot, locked in an eternal posture of defeat, has pirouetted into the limelight, fetching nearly a million dollars at an auction in France after it was outed as the real thing: Rodin's Le Désespoir (Despair). Created in 1890 and last sold in 1906, it was only rediscovered when the auctioneer chanced upon what the family thought was a fake last year. With the authentication, it has become a windfall for its unsuspecting owners. The course of art history, of course, is not entirely new to such serendipitous events. Róbert Berény's Sleeping Lady with Black Vase, a 1927-28 art deco portrait of his wife, Eta, was rediscovered in 2009 when historian Gergely Barki spotted it in the background of the movie Stuart Little during a Christmas watch with his daughter. The painting, thought to be lost, had been picked up by a set designer from an antique shop in California and found its way into the movie as a prop. Vincent Van Gogh's unsigned Sunset at Montmajour from Norwegian industrialist Christian Nicolai Mustad's private collection had been left to languish in the estate attic after being dismissed as a forgery. Discovered after Mustad's death, it was finally authenticated in 2013. Misplaced, mislabelled, folded into the fabric of the everyday, forgotten in time, such stories reveal art's stubborn endurance and its implicit ability to thaw into rapture. In literature, for instance, Franz Kafka, convinced of his own futility, had requested that his writings be destroyed after his death. That his friend Max Brod demurred turned Kafka's anguish into modernist gold. What Despair's reversal in fortune shows, then, is that genius mislaid is not genius lost. And that sometimes, the divide between gloom and glory is as fragile as a fleeting glance. In the right light — and with the right eye — despair may yet delight.
Euronews
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Celebrities react to Trump immigration raids in LA
A small marble sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin, which was long thought to be a copy, has fetched €860,000 at an auction in France, at the Château de Villandry (Indre-et-Loire), according to the website of the Rouillac auction house. 'Le Désespoir' ('Despair'), a variation on the famous 'Porte de l'Enfer' ('The Gates of Hell'), was produced around 1892. It depicts a woman hugging her knees and holding her foot. It had disappeared after being sold at an auction in 1906, and its owners had it sitting on a piano in their home, believing it was a replica. After a six-week investigation, they were informed of its authenticity. French auctioneer Aymeric Rouillac told AFP that he went to the Comité Rodin in March and the body, considered to be the leading authority on the French sculptor, confirmed it was not a fake after much research and a genealogical survey. Rouillac described the 28.5cm marble as an 'extremely rare' find. "We have rediscovered it," he added. And sold it for nearly one million dollars to an anonymous American buyer. Following Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles, artists have been speaking out against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation raids and offering support to protestors in LA. As reported by Euronews, Trump deployed another 2,100 National Guard members and 700 US Marines, in what the authorities have dubbed Task Force 51 meant to "provide continuous coverage of the area" as unrest in Los Angeles continues. Many celebrities posted messages on social media supporting the protestors and criticising the National Guard's deployment, including Eva Longoria and Mark Ruffalo. Longoria took to Instagram to express her frustration and described the actions as 'Un-American', while Ruffalo shared a lengthy message to Instagram with the caption: "When you have working class people going after the poor and other working class people you know you are living in an oligarchy." He added: "The billionaire up at the top is stealing you blind, and you are worried about the poorest of the poor ruining your life? You are pointing your guns in the wrong direction... The president is a grifter." Ruffalo's post went viral, racking up to 200,000 likes—including from other celebrities, including Jennifer Garner and Halle Berry. Une publication partagée par Mark Ruffalo (@markruffalo) Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong posted a scene from one of the LA protests to his Instagram over the weekend, which he captioned with a middle finger emoji and an ice cube emoji, while Tyler, The Creator wrote on his Instagram Story: 'FUCK ICE.' Singer and actress Reneé Rapp also condemned ICE's actions, writing: 'Fuck ICE fuck this administration fuck all of yall who are complicit in ensuring that this happened this is a fucking disgrace.' One of the most notable reactions came from Oscar-winning singer-songwriter Finneas, brother of Billie Eilish, who attended the 'very peaceful protests' himself and claimed to have been teargassed by authorities. 'Tear-gassed almost immediately at the very peaceful protest downtown. They're inciting this,' he wrote on Instagram. Finneas also reposted a clip that appeared to show a reporter, Lauren Tomasi, being shot in the leg with a rubber bullet by law enforcement while she was reporting from the scene. Elsewhere, Grammy-winning rapper Doechii spoke out against the immigration raids in Los Angeles at the 2025 BET Awards last night. During her speech, Doechii said that though she was 'honoured' by the award, she wanted to 'address what is happening right now outside of the building'. 'There are ruthless attacks that are creating fear and chaos in our communities in the name of law and order,' she continued, citing Trump's deployment of the National Guard. 'Trump is using military forces to stop a protest,' Doechii added. 'I want you all to consider what kind of government it appears to be when every time we exercise our democratic right to protest, the military is deployed against us. What type of government is that?' The heated situation has also prompted a fierce political backlash. Governor Gavin Newsom took to X to announce his plans to sue the federal government over the National Guard deployment, calling it 'an unconstitutional act.' "This is exactly what Donald Trump wanted. He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard. The order he signed doesn't just apply to CA (California). It will allow him to go into ANY STATE and do the same thing. We're suing him." Tom Felton has ignited fierce debate online after voicing support for Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling during an interview with Variety at the 2025 Tony Awards. The 37-year-old actor, best known for his decade-long portrayal of Draco Malfoy in the film franchise and set to reprise the role on Broadway in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, was asked about his stance on the controversy surrounding Rowling's views on transgender rights. 'I'm not really that attuned. The only thing I always remind myself is that I've been lucky enough to travel the world. Here I am in New York. And I have not seen anything bring the world together more than Potter, and she's responsible for that. So I'm incredibly grateful.' His comments have sparked a wave of differing reactions - while some applauded him for what they called a 'classy response,' others condemned it as 'atrocious,' 'spineless,' and 'disappointing.' 'Thank goodness someone in that franchise learned not to bite the hand that feeds him,' one user wrote on X. Another added, 'Who would have thought Draco would be the most level-headed.' However, many feel let down by his comments. 'This is what privilege looks like, and we shouldn't ignore how much harm looking the other way because things don't affect us directly does,' one declared. Another said: 'That's the problem ain't it, people not caring about issues that don't 'impact them'.' Since 2020, the once-widely celebrated J.K. Rowling has alienated and angered many fans through her contentious online comments regarding gender identity and trans rights - including her claim that trans women 'are not women' and her refusal to use people's preferred pronouns - writing that she would 'rather go to jail' than do so. Critics have labelled her a 'TERF' (trans-exclusionary radical feminist), a term Rowling has since embraced publicly. Her remarks prompted the three lead actors of the original film franchise - Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint - to publicly distance themselves from her. Radcliffe told The Atlantic last year that her views 'make me really sad,' adding: 'Because I do look at the person that I met, the times that we met, and the books that she wrote, and the world that she created, and all of that is to me so deeply empathic.' Watson has expressed her support for the trans community, saying: "Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren't who they say they are." Grint echoed this sentiment: "I firmly stand with the trans community... Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgement." Rowling has made it clear she won't forgive the actors who publicly disagreed with her. 'Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women's hard-won rights... can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces,' she wrote on X. Meanwhile, the wizarding world of Harry Potter continues to expand. A new HBO reboot series is in the works, with Rowling on board as an executive producer. The casting for the central trio was announced last month, with Dominic McLaughlin, Arabella Stanton, and Alastair Stout set to play Harry, Hermione, and Ron, respectively. Over 30,000 children auditioned for the roles in an open casting call last year. They will join a stacked supporting cast including six-time Emmy-winning actor John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Professor McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Snape, Nick Frost as Hagrid, Luke Thallon as Professor Quirrell, and Paul Whitehouse as caretaker Argus Filch. New additions were also revealed early this week: Johnny Flynn will portray Lucius Malfoy, with rising star Lox Pratt as Draco. The Morning Show's Bel Powley and BAFTA-winner Daniel Rigby will play Petunia and Vernon Dursley, while Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd) will take on the role of Molly Weasley. Despite continued controversy around Rowling's public statements, HBO has stood by her involvement in the project: 'J.K. Rowling has a right to express her personal views. We will remain focused on the development of the new series, which will only benefit from her involvement.'
