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Hand of Rodin With Torso

European Art

Several weeks before Rodin’s death, in 1917, one of his assistants made a life cast of his right hand at the request of the man who would become the first curator of the Musée Rodin in Paris. It is not known whose idea it was to create the present composite work by placing within this hand one of Rodin’s tiny modeled female torsos, which probably dates from the 1880s (when he created many similar figures for The Gates of Hell). The composition is consistent with other works by Rodin in which a hand cradles a human form, and it resonates as well with the sculptor’s documented belief in an artist’s godlike ability to create life and beauty in human form.
MEDIUM Bronze
  • Place Made: France
  • DATES 1917, cast 1971
    DIMENSIONS 6 3/4 × 9 1/4 × 5 in. (17.1 × 23.5 × 12.7 cm) mount (dimensions as installed): 7 × 4 × 9 1/2 in. (17.8 × 10.2 × 24.1 cm)  (show scale)
    MARKINGS Top edge of wrist: ".Georges Rudier./.Fondeur. Paris." Copyright mark--Top edge of wrist: "© by Musée Rodin 1971"
    SIGNATURE Inside of wrist: "A. Rodin'
    COLLECTIONS European Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 84.210.7
    CREDIT LINE Gift of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917). Hand of Rodin With Torso, 1917, cast 1971. Bronze, 6 3/4 × 9 1/4 × 5 in. (17.1 × 23.5 × 12.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, 84.210.7. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 84.210.7_bw_SL3.jpg)
    EDITION Edition: 7/12
    IMAGE overall, 84.210.7_bw_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2023
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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