Updated 18 April 2025
On Display Permanent collection
The Age of Bronze
| Date | 1877 (model) |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | bronze |
| Size（cm） | 181 x 70 x 66 |
| Inscriptions | Signed right top of base: Rodin; Foundry mark lower right back of base: .Alexis Rudier. / .Fondeur. PARIS. |
| Credit Line | Matsukata Collection |
| Standard ref. | M1250 |
| Category | Sculptures |
| Collection Number | S.1959-0002 |
A plaster cast of this work entitled The Vanquished was displayed in the 1877 Cercle Artistique in Brussels, but later this work was given the name of Awakening or Man of the First Ages. After the golden and silver ages of the gods, the first pulsating movements of mankind in the bronze age is expressed in the awakening form of this young man. Paul Gsell saw this statue in Rodin's home in Meudon and said "The legs of this just awakened man have no strength and are still slack. But as the viewer looks up the body, we can see how clearly that form is defined. .... The first arousing movement of a person seen in the transformation from a half sleeping state to that of life." (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no.126)
Provenance
Bought from Musée Rodin by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe through Léonce Bénédite, ca. February 1919, as ‘L’Age d’airan’(Fr. 30,000) [see several letters between Bénédite and Suzuki & Co., February 1919, in Archives of Musée Rodin, Paris; copy in NMWA curatorial files]; sequestered by French government, 1944; vested in French government under San Francisco Peace Treaty, 1952; transferred from French to Japanese government, 23 January 1959; entered into NMWA, April 1959.
Exhibition History
- 1966
- Rodin, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 23 July 1966 - 11 September 1966, cat. no. 6
- 1996
- The Crossing Visions: European and Modern Japanese Art from the Collections of The National Museum of Western Art & The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 20 July 1996 - 8 September 1996, cat. no. 105
- 2024
- Does the Future Sleep Here?: Revisiting the Museum's Response to Contemporary Art after 65 Years, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 12 March 2024 - 12 May 2024
Bibliography
- 1989
- Goldscheider, Cécile. Rodin, vie et œuvre, Tome I. Paris, Wildenstein Institute, 1989, pp. 114-117, no. 95.
- 1990
- The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. S-16.
- 2006
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 126, repr.
- 2009
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 126, repr.
- 2013
- Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 127, col. repr.
- 2019
- The Matsukata Collection: Complete Catalogue of the European Art. Kawaguchi, Masako; Jingaoka, Megumi, eds. vol. 2: Sculpture, Drawings, Prints and Decorative Arts and Other Works, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2019, cat. no. 1250, col. repr.
- 2021
- When Here and Afar Meet: Western Art in Yamagata/Western Art in Takaoka (exh. cat.). Shinfuji, Atsushi, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2021, pp. 29, 173, cat. no. Y1_1 | T1_1, col. repr.
- 2024
- Does the Future Sleep Here?: Revisiting the Museum's Response to Contemporary Art after 65 Years (exh. cat.). Shinfuji, Atsushi; Mochizuki, Kaoru, eds. [Tokyo], Culture Convenience Club; Bijutsu Shuppan-sha, 2024, pp. 83, 303, col. repr.