Auguste Rodin

Musée Rodin, Paris
Makler Gallery, Philadelphia (acquired from the above in February, 1977)
Private Collection (acquired from the above, before 1987)

Albert E. Elsen, Rodin, New York, 1963, p. 98, illustrated (plaster version)
Athena Tascha Spear, Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 1967, pl. 45a, p. 29, illustrated (plaster version)
Ionel Jianu and Cécile Goldscheider, Rodin, Paris, 1967, p. 106
John L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia, 1976, pp. 425-59

Excellent condition. Light surface dirt build-up along most of the major recesses in sculpture. Patina is in excellent condition. There is a 1/4-inch scratch on figure's robe at left elbow.
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Following the commission by the Société des Gens de Lettres in 1891 to execute a monument to Balzac, Rodin embarked on a seven-year period of intensive contemplation of the life of this prolific writer. In order to grasp the essential character of his subject, Rodin threw himself into a campaign of research, consulting texts by and about the author, as well as earlier portraits by other artists. As Athena Tacha Spear has written, "He read all of Balzac's novels and biographies; he looked at many of the portraits made during the writer's lifetime; he traveled often around Tours, Balzac's homeland, to study the physiognomy of the people and the nature of that region; he even obtained the proportions of Balzac's body from his tailor and thus was able to employ for the studies of the figure the appropriate models" (Athena Tacha Spear, Rodin Sculpture, Cleveland, 1967, pp. 9-10).

During the gestation of this great project, Rodin's approach shifted from a naturalistic rendering of Balzac towards a more dynamic expression of the novelist, aimed at capturing the intensity and intellectual gravitas of his character.  By 1896 Rodin was creating studies that bore no relationship to the physical form of Balzac, as had been the case in earlier versions. As Athena Tacha Spear has noted, "[Late] head studies show Balzac[...] at a mature age but long-haired. The modeling is becoming more and more arbitrary, with deeply hollowed eyes, exaggerated projections of the eyebrows and moustache, agitated planes and profuse skin roughness '(Athena Tacha Spear, Rodin Sculpture, Cleveland, 1967, pp. 22-23). The expressive rendering of Balzac's head, crowned with a mane of hair and thrown back in contemplation, reflects his fiery genius, while the large Dominican robe, which was the writer's favorite working attire, conceals the rest of his body and creates a massive and commanding presence.

The radical nature of Rodin's final interpretation caused uproar when it was exhibited at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1898. Rodin was deeply wounded by the public outcry but also scornful of the petty nature of much of the criticism. The Société des Gens de Lettres did not accept the sculpture, and Rodin arranged for its return to his studio at Meudon, where it was later recorded in Edward Steichen's memorable photographs of Monument to Balzac in the Moonlight. Despite the public outcry surrounding the work, Rodin himself considered it to be the pinnacle of his artistic achievement; according to Albert Elsen, "The artist himself regarded this as his most important and daring work, `the sum of my whole life, result of a whole lifetime of effort, the mainspring of my aesthetic theory. From the day of its conception, I was a changed man' '' (Albert E. Elsen, Rodin, New York, 1963, p. 89).