Updated 16 January 2024
Currently not on display
Photo by (c) Norihiro Ueno
Currently not on display
Head of Hanako
Date | c. 1907 |
---|---|
Materials and Techniques | bronze |
Size(cm) | 17 x 13 x 14 |
Inscriptions | Signed right side of neck: A. Rodin; Foundry mark back of neck: Alexis Rudier / Fondeur. Paris. |
Credit Line | Matsukata Collection |
Standard ref. | M1274 |
Category | Sculptures |
Collection Number | S.1959-0026 |
The model for this bronze was a Japanese woman named Hanako, a popular actress who performed all over Europe in those days. Her real name was Hisa Ohta (b.1868-d.1945). She went to Europe in 1901 and toured the continent until circa 1921. Ever since her encounter with Rodin circa 1906, she posed many a time as a model. There are currently over 50 portraits of Hanako in all kinds of material and technique in the Musee Rodin in Paris. In this work, Hanako is looking cross-eyed with knitted brows. This is a form in Japanese drama that expresses various emotions. Rodin was very interested in this look Hanako assumed in a "death" scene in a play and plunged into work referring to it as "the face of death". (Source: The Digital Gallery. 1999-2006)
Provenance
Bought from Musée Rodin by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe through Léonce Bénédite, ca. July 1921, as ‘Anako (petite tête)’ (Fr. 3,000) [see several letters between Bénédite and Suzuki & Co., July 1921, 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
- 1960
- The Masterpieces of the Ex-Matsukata Collection, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 14 May 1960 - 10 July 1960, S-26
- 1962
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Hakutsuru Museum, Kobe, 20 October 1962 - 5 November 1962, S-026
- 1962
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Art Gallery of Aichi Prefecture, Nagoya, 17 November 1962 - 9 December 1962, cat. no. 63 (当館記録による)
- 1964
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Nakajima Sports Center of Hokkaido Prefecture, 22 August 1964 - 13 September 1964, cat. no. 75
- 1965
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art, Kanazawa, 22 September 1965 - 10 October 1965, cat. no. 65
- 1965
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Cultural Center of Okayama Prefecture, Okayama, 20 October 1965 - 7 November 1965, cat. no. 65
- 1966
- Rodin, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 23 July 1966 - 11 September 1966, cat. no. 59
- 1966
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Wakayama Prefectural Museum of Art, Wakayama, 15 October 1966 - 4 November 1966, cat. no. 61
- 1966
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Cultural Center of Oita Prefecture, Oita, 12 November 1966 - 27 November 1966, cat. no. 61
- 1967
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Kagoshima Municipal Museum of Art, 28 April 1967 - 21 May 1967, cat. no. 61
- 1968
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Niigata Prefectural Museum, Niigata, 14 July 1968 - 4 August 1968, cat. no. 73
- 1968
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of Art, Hiroshima, 26 October 1968 - 17 November 1968, cat. no. 73
- 1969
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Cultural Center of Ibaraki Prefecture, Mito, 22 November 1969 - 21 December 1969, cat. no. 71
- 1970
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, Nagasaki Prefectural Museum, Nagasaki, 18 October 1970 - 15 November 1970, cat. no. 76
- 1971
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Toyama Prefectural Center, Museum of Art, Toyama, 2 October 1971 - 24 October 1971, cat. no. 71
- 1972
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Shinano Museum of Art of Nagano Prefecture, Nagano, 12 October 1972 - 5 November 1972, cat. no. 76
- 1973
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Cultural Center of Kochi Prefecture, Kochi, 28 October 1973 - 25 November 1973, cat. no. 81
- 1974
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Cultural Center of Fukuoka Prefecture, Fukuoka, 13 October 1974 - 10 November 1974, cat. no. 80
- 1974
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Saga Prefectural Museum, Saga, 16 November 1974 - 1 December 1974, cat. no. 80
- 1975
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Yamagata Museum, Yamagata, 1 November 1975 - 30 November 1975, cat. no. 79
- 1976
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Tottori Prefectural Museum, Tottori, 9 October 1976 - 7 November 1976, cat. no. 64
- 1977
- [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Nara Prefectural Museum, Nara, 15 October 1977 - 13 November 1977, cat. no. 66
- 1978
- [Tour Exhibition] Masterpieces from the National Museum of Western Art, The Art Center of Oita Prefecture, Oita, 20 December 1978 - 31 January 1979, cat. no. 73
- 1988
- [Tour Exhibition] Rodin, The Kurayoshi Museum, 13 May 1988 - 12 June 1988, cat. no. 11
- 1996
- Rodin: Selected Works from National Museum of Western Art, Yorozu Tetsugoro Memorial Museum, Towacho, 10 October 1996 - 17 November 1996, cat. no. 14
- 2001
- Rodin et le Japon, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, 28 April 2001 - 10 June 2001, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, 22 June-19 August, cat. 42, col. repr.
- 2008
- Quiet Dynamism: Yuzo Fujikawa and the Art of Rodin, The Kagawa Museum, 5 April 2008 - 18 May 2008, cat. no. 8, col. repr.
- 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. 26
- 2015
- Japan's Love for Impressionism: From Monet to Renoir, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, 8 October 2015 - 21 February 2016, cat. no. 111, col. repr.
Bibliography
- 1990
- The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. S-40.
- 2001
- Rodin et le Japon (exh.cat.). Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art; Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, eds. Contemporary Sculpture Center, 2001, pp. 50-51, 335, cat. no. 42, col. repr.
- 2008
- Quiet Dynamism: Yuzo Fujikawa and the Art of Rodin. The Kagawa Museum, ed. Takamatsu, The Kagawa Museum, 2008, cat. no. 8, col. repr.
- 2015
- Japan's Love for Impressionism: From Monet to Renoir (exh. cat.). Marks-Hanssen, Beate, ed. Bonn, Bundeskunsthalle, 2015, pp. 182, 247, cat. no. 111, 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. 1274, 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. 151, 182, cat. no. Y3_9 | T3_15, col. repr.