Updated 07 April 2025
On Display Permanent collection
Balzac (Study)
| Date | 1897 (model), 1961 (cast) |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | bronze |
| Size（cm） | 106 x 45 x 38 |
| Inscriptions | Signed right top of base: A. Rodin; Inscribed right side of base: by musée. Rodin. 1961; Foundry mark back of base: George Rudier. / Fondeur. Paris. |
| Credit Line | Donated by the Asahi Shimbun |
| Category | Sculptures |
| Collection Number | S.1962-0001 |
This is a study work for the bronze statue of Balzac that stands on the Boulevard Raspail in Paris. When the work was first unveiled, it was jeered with such remarks as "it looks like a figure covered with a potato sack" and the commissioning group, the Société des gens de lettres, refused to accept it. Rodin was greatly disappointed and indignant over this reaction. "Why isn't the large robe good? Isn't it the robe the literary master wears, who moves in his room late at night crazed as he chases away the demons of the mind?." This type of memorial figure differed from all previous portrait figures, wrapped in a formal cape as he stands before his adoring public, and Rodin's portrait of Balzac was never understood during the artist's lifetime. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 140)
Provenance
Donated by the Asahi Shimbun
Exhibition History
- 1961
- Expositino d'Art Français au Japon 1840-1940 , Musee national á Tokyo, 3 November 1961 - 15 January 1962, Musee municipal á Kyoto, 26 January - 15 March 1962, cat. no. 200
- 1966
- Rodin, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 23 July 1966 - 1 September 1966, cat. no. 43
- 1970
- Discovery of Harmony, Expo Museum of Fine Arts, 15 March 1970 - 13 September 1970, cat. no. IV-248, repr.
- 1984
- Development of Sculpture in the Twentieth Century: from Rodin to Christo, The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga, 26 August 1984 - 7 October 1984, cat. no. 23, col. repr.
- 1985
- , The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, 6 April 1985 - 6 May 1985, cat. no. 7, repr.
- 1988
- Exhibition for the family, Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, 31 July 1988 - 4 September 1988, cat. no. 64, col. repr.
- 1996
- [Exhibition for Children] “What were the Sculptures Made for?”, Tokyo National Museum, 2 July 1996 - 1 September 1996
Bibliography
- 1964
- Jacques de Caso. Rodin and the Cult of Balzac. The Burlington Magazine. vol. 107, no. 747, June 1964, pp. 279-284, fig. 32, repr.
- 1965
- Tominaga, Soichi. Balzac zo (Rodin). The Geijyutu Seikatsu. no. 202, January 1965, pp. 94-99, repr.
- 1966
- Nakamura, Denzaburo. Nihon-Chokoku-si no naka-no Rodin. Mizue. no. 739, 9 1966, pp. 49-63, repr. p. 56.
- 1967
- Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 1, 1967, Catalogue of the New Acquisitions. pp. 44-45, no. S-65. repr.
- 1984
- Development of Sculpture in the Twentieth Century: From Rodin to Christo (exh. cat.). The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga, ed. [Otsu], The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga, 1984, p. 90, cat. 23, col. repr.
- 1985
- Ogiwara Morie to Nihon no Kindai Chokoku: Rodin no Keifu (exh. cat.). The Museum of Modern Art,Saitama, ed. [Urawa], The Museum of Modern Art,Saitama, 1985, p. 43, cat. no. 9, repr.
- 1988
- Exhibition for the Family (exh. cat.). Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, ed. Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Culture Foundation, 1988, pp. 48, 60, cat. no. 64, col. repr.
- 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. 140, 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. 140, repr.
- 2013
- Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 138, col. repr.