The National Museum of Western Art

Updated 15 May 2025

Currently not on display

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Photo by (c) Norihiro Ueno

Currently not on display

Auguste Rodin

Paris, 1840 - Meudon, 1917

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
2021
National Touring Exhibition of Western Art from the NMWA: When Here and Afar Meet: Western Art in Yamagata / Western Art in Takaoka, Yamagata Museum of Art, 17 July 2021 - 27 August 2021, Takaoka Art Museum, 10 September-24 October 2021, cat. no. Y1_16 | T1_25

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.

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