The Age of Bronze

The Age of Bronze () is a bronze statue by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840–1917). The figure is of a life-size nude male, 72 in. (182.9cm) high. Rodin continued to produce casts of the statue for several decades after it was modeled in 1876.

The sculpture is famous for its extreme naturalism, which prompted suspicion that it was a lifecast. Rodin had a Belgian soldier pose for the statue, keeping photographs which survive (in the Rodin Museum). The pose partly derives from Michelangelo's Dying Slave in the Louvre Museum, which has the elbow raised above the head. Rodin had studied Michelangelo's work on a trip to Italy, taking inspiration from his naturalism. Today, there are numerous casts of the statue held in major museum across the world

History The Age of Bronze was not Auguste Rodin's first life-size sculpture. Previously, he was creating a piece that was destroyed while moving studios titled Bacchante. Following the destruction of Bacchante, The Age of Bronze was meant to establish his reputation. At this time, Rodin's goal was to study the nude and create naturalistic sculptures. Rodin was unsatisfied with professional models due to their inability to convey the natural poses he wished to sculpt. To solve this problem, he employed a 22-year-old Belgian soldier, Auguste Neyt. The work was also influenced by Rodin's visit to Italy in 1876, where he sought inspiration from Michelangelo's depiction of the human form.

Originally, the figure held a spear, representing a warrior on the verge of defeat; however, Rodin removed the spear before displaying it to the public. This change drew attention to the figure's body and emotional state rather than the narrative content.

Reception Rodin first exhibited the work under the title The Conquered Man at the Cercle Artistique in Brussels in January 1877. Belgian critics struggled to understand the absence of any identifiable subject matter, with one critic writing that Rodin had "forgotten only one thing and that is to explain his subject". Another critic, attempting to make sense of the work, speculated that it represented "a man on the verge of suicide". Belgian critics also raised suspicion that the work had been cast directly from the model.

Similar suspicions were expressed several months later, when the work was exhibited at the Salon in Paris, under the title The Age of Bronze. This suspicion benefited Rodin, though, because people were so eager to see this for themselves. Critics expressed other misgivings about the work; one described the figure as "a sickly nude fellow" while another complained that it possessed "neither character nor beauty".

Analysis and interpretations The Age of Bronze, being Rodin's first successful large sculpture, represents a long period of effort, training, struggle, and research. Much of the scholarship on the work examines the narrative ambiguity of the work, analyzing the pose of the figure for its psychological evocations. The weight shifting to the right side, the relaxing of the lips, and the way the head sits upon the shoulders, invite speculation about the man's suffering and inner life.

Scholars have also examined the work in relation to Rodin's goals of making naturalistic sculpture. The influence of Michelangelo's Dying Slave on the work has commonly been interpreted in terms of this aim. Scholars have also pointed to differences between the two sculptures, describing Rodin's figure as more agile, fluid, and naturalistic than Michelangelo's more rigidly defined work.

Casts Casts of the statue can be found in many museums, including:

Institution City CountryAlbright–Knox Art GalleryBuffalo, New YorkUnited States Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin Germany Museum Folkwang Essen Germany Schlossmuseum Weimar Germany Chiado Museum Lisbon Portugal Cleveland Museum of Art Cleveland, Ohio United States Columbus Museum of Art Columbus, Ohio United States Ny Carlsberg GlyptotekCopenhagenDenmark NationalmuseumStockholmSweden Honolulu Museum of Art Honolulu, Hawaii United States Hugh Lane Gallery Dublin Ireland Instituto Ricardo Brennand Recife Brazil Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University Stanford, California United States Kunstmuseum The Hague Netherlands Leeds Art Gallery Leeds England Lycée Rodin, cour d'honneur:fr:Lycée Rodin Paris France Maryhill Museum of Art Maryhill, Washington United States Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City, New York United States Middelheim Open Air Sculpture MuseumAntwerpBelgium Minneapolis Institute of Arts Minneapolis, Minnesota United States Musée d'Orsay Paris France Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon Lyon FranceMusée Rodin Paris France Museo Soumaya Mexico City Mexico Museum of Fine Arts Budapest Hungary Nasher Sculpture CenterDatabase (undated). "Auguste Rodin" . Nasher Sculpture Center. Retrieved 3 May 2012. Dallas, Texas United States National Gallery of Art Washington, D.C. United States National Gallery of Canada Ottawa, Ontario Canada National Museum of Western Art Tokyo Japan New Orleans Museum of Art New Orleans, Louisiana United States Princeton University Art Museum Princeton, New Jersey United States Rodin Museum Philadelphia, Pennsylvania United StatesTokyo University of the Arts, The University Art Museum Tokyo JapanTokyo Fuji Art Museum Tokyo Japan Victoria and Albert Museum London England Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya Barcelona Spain Burrell Collection Glasgow Scotland Legion of Honor San Francisco United States Queensland Art Gallery Brisbane Australia Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna Rome Italy Manchester Art Gallery Manchester United Kingdom Chrysler Museum of ArtNorfolk, Virginia United States

Gallery

The Age of Bronze

Bron en licentie