Auguste RODIN (1840-1917). Gustav Mahler, head type B or second version. Proof in patinated bronze, signed, Alexis Rudier founder and bears the relief stamp " A. Rodin" inside. (Wear to the patina). 34 x 24 x 23,5 cm. Model created in 1909, this print was cast between 1911 and 1914. Provenance: - Acquired from the artist by Alma Mahler (1879-1964), the wife of the composer. - By descent to her daughter Anna Mahler (1904-1988). - Art market, London. - Acquired by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing from the previous one around 1973-1974. Exhibitions: - 1912, Paris, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Acquisitions and State Commissions Delivered in 1912, a similar example. - 1961, Munich, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Auguste Rodin, a similar copy. - 1966, Marseille, Cantini museum, Rodin, a similar copy. - 1966, Chambéry, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Rodin : statuaire, a similar copy. - 1982, Mexico, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Auguste Rodin, a similar copy. - 1982-1983, Bombay, National Gallery of Modern Art, Rodin sculptures, a similar copy. - 1982-1983, Calcutta, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Rodin sculptures, a similar copy. - 1983, Bombay, National Center for the Performing Arts, Rodin sculptures, a similar copy. - 1984, Switzerland, Martigny, Pierre Gianadda Foundation, Rodin, a similar piece. - 1987, Barcelona, Rodin - Bronze i aquarelles del Museu Rodin de Paris - Museu Europeu d'Art Modern, a similar copy. - 1995, Amsterdam, Mahler in Amsterdam van Mengelberg tot Chailly, a similar copy. - 2011, Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Gustav Mahler, a similar copy. - 2014-2015, Beijing, National Museum of China, Rodin, the work of a life, a similar copy. - 2015, Zagreb, Umjetnicki paviljon, From Master to Work. Rodin in the Zagreb of Mestrovic, a similar copy. Bibliography: - Léonce Bénédite, Catalogue sommaire des peintures et sculptures de l'École contemporaine exposées dans les galeries du Musée national du Luxembourg, Paris, G. Braun, 1914, no. 959 a similar copy as : Le compositeur Malher, bronze head. - Léonce Bénédite, Catalogue sommaire des oeuvres d'Auguste Rodin et autres oeuvres d'art de la donation Rodin, Paris, Frazier-Soye, 1919, a similar copy under n° 111. - Georges Grappe, Catalogue du musée Rodin, Paris, 1927, a similar copy under n° 310. - Georges Grappe, Catalogue du musée Rodin, Paris, 1929, a similar copy under n° 347. - Georges Grappe, Catalogue du musée Rodin, Paris, 1931, a similar copy under n° 416. - Georges Grappe, Catalogue du musée Rodin : I- Hôtel Biron : essai de classement chronologique des oeuvres d'Auguste Rodin, Musée Rodin, Paris, 1938, a similar copy under n° 339. - Georges Grappe, Catalogue du musée Rodin, Paris, 1944, a similar copy under n° 397. - Jean-Michel Nectoux, Catalogue de l'exposition Gustav Mahler : un homme, une oeuvre, une époque, Paris, Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, January 24-March 31, 1985, Paris, Association G. Mahler, 1985, a similar copy pp. 142-153. - Anne Pingeot, Antoinette Le Normand-Romain and Laure de Margerie, Musée d'Orsay. Catalog sommaire illustré des sculptures, Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1986, a similar copy p.281. - Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, Rodin et le bronze - Catalogue des oeuvres conservées au Musée Rodin, éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, 2007, a similar copy is described and reproduced volume II, pp 494-496. A certificate of inclusion in the archives of the Auguste Rodin Committee n° 2015 - 4659 B, for the publication of the Catalogue Critique de l'oeuvre Sculpté d'Auguste Rodin dated May 4, 2015 will be given to the buyer. Jérôme Le Blay in his certificate indicates: It is still difficult at this stage of our knowledge to know the distribution of the proofs between first and second versions, but we know from the archives of the founders kept at the Rodin Museum, that about 23 proofs were executed by the Rudier foundry between May 1910 and May 1914, most of them destined for Alma Malher and Carl Moll. The Rodin Museum took over the edition with 5 proofs made by Alexis Rudier between 1926 and 1929 and then 11 proofs by the Georges Rudier foundry between 1954 and 1966. There are therefore at least 39 proofs of the portrait of Gustav Malher, all versions included. Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). The Malher Foundation on its website gives the following information: It was the painter Carl Julius Rudolf Moll, Alma Malher's father-in-law, who wanted Rodin to execute a bust of Mahler after he left the Vienna Opera in 1907. The first meeting between Gustav Mahler and Auguste Rodin took place at the Café de Paris on April 23, 1909, and was arranged by Paul Clémenceau. The first sitting began the next day. At the session of April 30, 1909 he