Odilon Roche (1868 - 1947) - Portrait Of Auguste Rodin

ODILON ROCHE (Châteauneuf-sur-Loire 1868 - Six-Fours-les-Plages 1947)
Portrait of Auguste Rodin
Pencil and stump
20.5 x 16.5 cm unframed
Signed lower right
Minor discoloration, slightly oiled

Provenance : 
- Former T. Buscail collection, his mark lower left (L.5113)

As a tribute to the fascinating figure with whom his career was intimately linked, this portrait of Auguste Rodin was created by his greatest forger, Odilon Roche (1868-1947), probably from a photograph or from memory. From 1919 onwards, Roche was involved with the newly-born Rodin Museum, acting as commercial attaché and, above all, in the classification of graphic works. This close relationship with the master's drawings enabled him to develop a forgery trade, mainly in watercolors he himself had produced, bearing a false signature and punctuating certain museum and private collections. No fear here, as this is a “real” Odilon Roche using his talent to sketch his artistic master with a geometrical pencil stroke enhanced by blurring to give relief. 

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