Auguste RodinFrench, 1840–1917Honoré de Balzac
May one see it?
Yes, receiving visitors
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Room800New York, United States
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- 12.11.1
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art — Open Access (CC0)
Meanwhile, in the life of Auguste Rodin
The whole life1889
Rodin and Monet at the Georges Petit gallery
“The Burghers of Calais” was the main event of a joint exhibition of Rodin and Claude Monet: thirty-six sculptures by Rodin and seventy paintings by Monet.
1890
Vice-president of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts
When the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts was revived in 1890, Rodin became its vice-president.
1890s–1900s
Young sculptors in Rodin's studio
His income let him hire gifted young sculptors, among them Antoine Bourdelle, Charles Despiau, Jules Desbois, François Pompon and Aristide Maillol. Constantin Brancusi left after two months, convinced that nothing grows under a big tree.
1891
Commission for the Balzac monument
The Société des Gens de Lettres, largely through the personal efforts of its president, Émile Zola, commissioned a monument to Balzac to be delivered in two years. Rodin pictured a massive standing figure with a large head and a body hidden in drapery, but he missed the deadline.
19 January 1892 · Award
Officer of the Legion of Honour
1893
Chicago: nudes behind a drape
Through the curator Sarah Hallowell, Rodin sent “Cupid and Psyche”, “Sphinx” and “Andromeda” to the Chicago World's Fair; the nudes caused such controversy that they were hidden behind a drape, with special permission needed to see them. Even so, the financier Charles Yerkes bought two large marbles and was probably the first American to own a Rodin.
