Updated 16 April 2025
Currently not on display
Photo by (c) Norihiro Ueno
Currently not on display
Victor Hugo
| Date | 1885 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | bronze |
| Size（cm） | 45 x 25 x 26 |
| Inscriptions | Signed left shoulder: A. Rodin; Foundry mark right of back: Alexis. RUDIER. / Fondeur. Paris. |
| Credit Line | Purchased |
| Category | Sculptures |
| Collection Number | S.1966-0003 |
Rodin sculpted many a portrait of celebrities. Particularly in the 1900s, his late years in which he had gained fame as a sculptor, he incessantly received commissions from notables of all circles. This statue of Victor Hugo was executed when Rodin was still quite young. Hugo hesitated to model at his old age. Although Rodin was given permission to create a portrait through the mediation of the critic Edmond Bazire, Hugo's response was not at all positive so that, in the end, Rodin is said to have observed Hugo in his study from outside on the balcony. This portrait does not seem to have been received favourably by the Hugos. Upon Hugo's death, the bereaved family reengaged the sculptor Jules Dalou, a friend of Rodin, to take a death mask. (Source: The Digital Gallery. 1999-2006)
Exhibition History
- 1994
- Kokuritsu Seiyo Bijyutsukan shozo sakuhin ni yoru yoroppa bijyutsu eno shotai, Karatsu City Library, 12 November 1994 - 11 December 1994, cat. no. 10,col. repr.
- 2006
- August Rodin / Eugène Carrière, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 7 March 2006 - 4 June 2006, cat. no. 72
Bibliography
- 1898
- Mauclair, Camille. L'arte de M. Auguste Rodin. La Revue des Revues. 15 Juin 1898, p. 602.
- 1966
- Sutton, Denys. Triumphant Satyr: The World of Auguste Rodin. New York, Hawthorn Books, 1966, no. 44.
- 1967
- Spear, Athena Tacha. Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967, p. 5.
- 1968
- Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 2 (1967), 1968, Catalogue of the New Acquisitions. pp. 100-101, no. S-73. repr.
- 1976
- Tancock, John L. The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1976, no. 87.
- 1977
- De Caso, Jacques et Patricia Sanders. Rodin's sculpture: A Critical Study of the Spreckels collection. San Francisco, The Fine Arts Museum, 1977, nos. 55-56.
- 1988
- Rodin: Selected Works from The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. The National Museum of Western Art ed. Kurayoshi Museum, 1988, no. 6.
- 1989
- Goldscheider, Cécile. Rodin, vie et œuvre, Tome I. Paris, Wildenstein Institute, 1989, pp. 174-179, no. 132.
- 1992
- The French Modern Art, from The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (exh. cat.). The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, ed. Okinawa, Urasoe Art Museum, 1992, p. 47, cat. no. 37, col. repr
- 1993
- Butler, Ruth. Rodin: The Shape of Genius. New Heaven/ London, Yale University Press, 1993, pp. 173-177.
- 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. 10, col. repr.
- 1999
- French Sculpture. Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, 1999, no. 126.
- 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. 86.
- 2005
- Marraud, Hélène. "Syozo to Guui: Syozo o Koeta Shozo". Le parcours d'un génie. Kyoto, Tankosya, 2005 , pp. 168-169.
- 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. 35, 174, cat. no. Y1_16 | T1_25, col. repr.