Updated 25 December 2025
Currently not on display
Photo by (c) Norihiro Ueno
Currently not on display
Despair
| Date | Before 1890 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | bronze |
| Size（cm） | 18 x 9 x 9 |
| Inscriptions | Signed left side of base: A. Rodin; Foundry mark lower back of base: A. Rudier / Fondeur. Paris |
| Credit Line | Matsukata Collection |
| Standard ref. | M1262 |
| Category | Sculptures |
| Collection Number | S.1959-0014 |
Provenance
Bought from Musée Rodin by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe through Kōzaburō Hioki, 13 September 1937, as ‘Désespoir’ (Fr. 15,000) [see accounting record, dated 13 September 1937, 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. 35
- 1989
- Rodin et la Porte de l’Enfer (Rodin and the Gates of Hell), National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 21 October 1989 - 17 December 1988, cat. no. 68
- 2012
- Traces of hands : sculpture and drawings by Rodin and Bourdelle from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 3 November 2012 - 27 January 2013, cat. no. 35
- 2022
- Renoir—Monet—Gauguin: Images of a Floating World: the Collections of Kōjirō Matsukata and Karl Ernst Osthaus, Museum Folkwang, 6 February 2022 - 15 May 2022
Bibliography
- 1990
- The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. S-28.
- 2012
- Traces of Hands: Sculpture and Drawings by Rodin and Bourdelle from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (exh. cat.). Oya, Mina, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 2012, p. 35, cat. no. 35, 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. 1262, col. repr.
- 2022
- Renoir—Monet—Gauguin: Images of a Floating World: the Collections of Kōjirō Matsukata and Karl Ernst Osthaus (exh.cat.). Engel, Nadine; Herlemann, Rebecca, eds. Berlin, Hatje Cantz, [2022], pp. 232, 368, col. repr.