Balzac in the Robe of a Dominican Monk
Balzac in the Robe of a Dominican Monk | |
---|---|
French: Balzac en robe de dominicain | |
The sculpture in display at Museo Soumaya | |
Artist | Auguste Rodin |
Year | 1892 |
Type | Sculpture |
Medium | Bronze |
Subject | Honoré de Balzac |
Dimensions | 106.4 cm × 38.5 cm × 50.8 cm (27 in × 9.8 in × 12.9 in) |
Location | Museo Soumaya, Mexico City |
Balzac in the Robe of a Dominican Monk is a bronze sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin, one of the studies made in preparation to the Monument to Balzac, a tribute to novelist Honoré de Balzac commissioned by the Society of Men of Letters of France in 1891.[1]
Development
This sculpture was a particular challenge to the artist due to his preference to portray his subjects in great detail, and the fact that Balzac was already dead. Rodin then started to research about the life and times of his subject, only to find, according to Kenneth Clark, that he had been a short, fat and unremarkable-looking man.[2]
Realisation
With this difficulty, Rodin aimed instead to represent Balzac's persona rather than his physical likeness.[3] Instead of the agreed-upon eighteen months, Rodin spent seven years making different studies, both nude and non-nude, only to present his final plaster in 1898 at a Salon in Champ de Mars with great disapproval by the Societè.[4] Disillusioned with this result, Rodin decided to install the plaster at his house in Meudon. Only in 1939 was a full-size cast put at the crossroads of boulevard Raspail and boulevard du Montparnasse, also known as carrefour Vavin, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.
Description
Unlike other studies and the final version of the monument, Balzac in the Robe of a Dominican Monk shows the author fully clothed with the traditional habit of the Dominican order—a simple cloak with a belt— standing in a rock-like structure and with both hands explicitly shown.[citation needed]
Evaluation
It is considered by some later critics as one of the best sculptures made by the French artist. Rodin himself has been quoted about this piece, considering that "the fruit and summing-up of my entire life and the pivot of my personal aesthetic".[2]
See also
References
- ^ Musée Rodin. "The great years of creation". Retrieved October 13, 2016.
1891: The Société des Gens de Lettres commissions him to design a Monument to Honoré Balzac
- ^ a b La Era de Rodin (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Museo Soumaya. 2007. pp. 148–149. ISBN 978-968-7794-36-5.
- ^ The Museum of Modern Art. "Auguste Rodin. Monument to Balzac". MoMA, official website. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
- ^ "Monument to Balzac". rodin-web.org. August 31, 2004. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
External links
- Media related to Statues of Honoré de Balzac by Auguste Rodin at Wikimedia Commons
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- Man with the Broken Nose (1863)
- Alsatian Orphan (1871)
- Suzon (1872–73)
- The Age of Bronze (1876)
- La Defense (1879)
- The Maiden Kissed by the Ghost (1880)
- The Shade (1880)
- The Gates of Hell (1880/1917)
- The Thinker (1880, locations)
- Adam (1880–81)
- Eve (1881)
- Crouching Woman (1880–1882)
- Saint John the Baptist (1880/1907)
- Ugolino and His Sons (1881)
- The Kiss (1882)
- I Am Beautiful (1882)
- The Falling Man (1882)
- Jules Dalou (1883)
- Bust of Maurice Haquette (1883)
- Bust of Victor Hugo (1883)
- Eternal Springtime (1884)
- Torso of Adele (c. 1884)
- The Burghers of Calais (1884–1889)
- Head of Camille Claudel (1884/1911)
- The Prodigal Son (1885)
- Mask of a Weeping Woman (1885)
- The Martyr (1885)
- Psyche Looking at Love (1885)
- Eustache de Saint Pierre (1885–86)
- Jean d'Aire (1885–86)
- Jean de Fiennes (1885–86)
- Avarice and Lust (1885–1887)
- Damned Women (1885–1890)
- The Old Tree (1885)
- Paolo and Francesca (1885)
- Young Mother (1885)
- Young Mother in the Grotto (1885)
- Young Woman with a Serpent (c. 1885)
- The Three Shades (1886)
- Meditation (1886)
- Fugitive Love (1886–87)
- Ovid's Metamorphoses (1886–1889)
- Pierre de Wiessant (1887)
- Head of Saint John the Baptist (1887)
- The Sirens (1887)
- Polyphemus (1888)
- Standing Mercury (1888)
- The Kneeling Man (1888)
- Adonis Awakens (1889)
- Andromeda (1889)
- Glaucus (1889)
- Kneeling Female Faun (1889)
- The Succubus (1889)
- Despair (c. 1890)
- Brother and Sister (1890)
- Danaid (1890)
- Cybele (1890/1904)
- Monument to Balzac (1892–1897)
- Balzac in the Robe of a Dominican Monk (1892)
- Youth Triumphant (c. 1894)
- Octave Mirdeau (1895)
- Iris, Messenger of the Gods (c. 1895)
- Bacchantes Embracing (c. 1896)
- The Spirit of Eternal Repose (1898–99)
- Illusions Received by the Earth (pre-1900)
- The Athlete (1901–1904)
- The Death of Adonis (1903–1906)
- Adam and Eve (1905)
- The Walking Man (1907)
- The Cathedral (1908)
- The Prayer (1909)
- Standing Female Faun (1910)
- Musée Rodin (Hôtel Biron), Paris
- Rodin Museum, Philadelphia
- Museu Rodin Bahia, Salvador
- Plateau (closed)
- 1888–89 Claudel bust
- 1909 Bourdelle bust
- Rodin — The Thinker (1902 photograph)
- Camille Claudel (1988 film)
- Camille Claudel (2003 musical)
- Camille Claudel 1915 (2013 film)
- Rodin (2017 film)
- Rodin (crater)
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