Rodin, Auguste (1840-1917)
L’Âge d’airain (The Age of Bronze)
modeled 1876, cast c.1906
Bronze, 182.9 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Rodin’s breakout sculpture, The Age of Bronze caused a critical scandal for its extreme naturalism and ambiguous subject matter. Fashioned over a period of eighteen months and based on a live model, the sculpture depicts a suspended moment of human awakening, either to suffering or to joy. First exhibited in 1877 in Brussels with the title The Conquered Man (Le Vaincu [literal translation, “The Vanquished”]), it was displayed later the same year in Paris with its current title. Rodin promoted the work’s multiple interpretations, saying, “There are at least four figures in it.” (MET)
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Rodin, Auguste (1840-1917)
L’Âge d’airain
1875–1876
Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen