Updated 20 June 2024
Currently not on display
Photo by (c) Norihiro Ueno
Currently not on display
Orpheus and the Maenads
| Date | Before 1889 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | bronze |
| Size（cm） | 81 x 50 x 40 |
| Inscriptions | Signed back of base: Rodin; Foundry mark right side of base: ALEXIS RUDIER. / FONDEUR. PARIS. |
| Credit Line | Matsukata Collection |
| Standard ref. | M1286 |
| Category | Sculptures |
| Collection Number | S.1959-0038 |
The maenads appear in Greek mythology and are frenzied women who followed Dionysus (Bacchus). Orpheus, who is considered the greatest poet and musician in Greek mythology, is said to have been torn to pieces by Thracian women during the frenzy of the Dionysus festival. In this sculpture, Orpheus' head lies at the maenad's knees. This group of figures also appears on the left-hand side of the tympanum of "The Gates of Hell". The kneeling maenad is slender and yet her body is expressed with vividly sensual curves. This figure also exists as an independent sculpture entitled "Standing Faunness". Of the maenads floating overhead, the front figure was also turned into a sculpture of its own entitled "A Flying Figure". (Source: The Digital Gallery. 1999-2006)
Provenance
[?] Purchased by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe through Léonce Bénédite, ca. November 1921, as ‘Les Erynnies, petit groupe de trois figures, bronze’ (Fr. 35,000) [see several letters between Bénédite and Suzuki & Co., November 1921, in Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux, 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. 33
- 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 1989, cat. no. 31
- 1991
- Auguste Rodin, Das Höllentor: Zeichnungen und Plastik, Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim, 28 September 1991 - 6 January 1992, cat. no. 48, repr.
Bibliography
- 1990
- The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. S-52.
- 1991
- Auguste Rodin: Das Höllentor: Zeichnungen und Plastik (exh. cat.). Fath, Manfred, ed. München, Prestel-Verlag, 1991, pp. 96, 143, cat. no. 48, 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. 1286, col. repr.