Provenance

Bought from Musée Rodin by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe through Léonce Bénédite, ca. July 1921, as ‘La méditation’ (Fr. 25,000) [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

1966

Rodin, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 23 July 1966 - 11 September 1966, cat. no. 26

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. 37

1994

Kokuritsu Seiyo Bijyutsukan shozo sakuhin ni yoru yoroppa bijyutsu eno shotai, Karatsu City Library, 12 November 1994 - 11 December 1994, cat. no. 9, col. repr.

2006

August Rodin / Eugène Carrière, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 7 March 2006 - 4 June 2006, cat. no. 77

2019

The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey: Upon the 60th Anniversary of the NMWA, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 11 June 2019 - 23 September 2019, cat. no. 83, col. repr.

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

1966

Rodin (exh. cat.). National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 23 July - 11 September 1966; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, 18 September - 30 October 1966; Cultural Center of Fukuoka Prefecture, 9 November - 11 December 1966, [Tokyo], Yomiuri-Simbun, 1966, no. 26.

1969

Jianou, lonel; Goldscheider, C. Rodin. Paris, Arted Editions d'Art, 1969, p. 91.

1976

Tancock, John L. The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1976, pp. 193-199.

1984

Rodin (exh. cat.). Martigny, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, 1984, no. 24.

1988

Rodin: Selected Works from The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. The National Museum of Western Art ed. Kurayoshi Museum, 1988, no. 20.

1989

Rodin et la Porte de l'Enfer (exh. cat.). The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 1989, no. 37.

1990

The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. S-47.

1994

Kokuritsu Seiyo Bijutsukan Shozo Sakuhin ni Yoru Europa Bijutsu e no Shotai (exh. cat.). Karatsu City Library; National Museum of Wetsern Art. Karatsu, Karatsu City Library, 1994, cat. no. 9, col. repr.

2001

Levkoff, Mary L. "The monuments to The Burghers of Calais, Victor Hugo, and Honoré de Balzac". Rodin A Magnificent Obsession. Ross, Iain; Snow, Anthea eds. London, Merrell, 2001, p. 71.

2001

Rodin en 1900: l'exposition de l'alma (exh. cat.). Musée du Luxembourg, 12 March - 15 July 2001, Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 2001, p. 182.

2003

Elsen, Albert. Rodin's Art: The Rodin Collection of the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University. Barryte, Bernard ed. New York, Oxford University Press, 2003, no. 62.

2019

The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey (exh. cat.). Jingaoka, Megumi, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of the Western Art, Tokyo; Yomiuri Shimbun; NHK; NHK Promotions, 2019, pp. 161, 166, 363, cat. no. 83. 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. 1281, 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. 229, 367, col. repr.

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