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04989

RODIN, Auguste

Paris 1840 - Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine 1917

Maker: Rudier, Eugène

Jules Dalou

Jules Dalou

modeled 1883, cast 1911 [archives, Musée Rodin, Paris] before 1912 [Museum's Date]

bronze, sand cast [archives, Musée Rodin, Paris]

bust

Dimensions (HxWxD): 20 1⁄2 x 16 1⁄2 x 8 in.

below figure's left shoulder: A. Rodin
inside cast at figure's heart level: A. Rodin
on figure's right lower back: ALEXIS RUDIER / FONDEUR PARIS

Acc. No.: 12.332

Credit Line: Museum purchase with funds donated by contribution

Photo credit: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

© Artist : public domain

© Artist : public domain

Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts

www.mfa.org

Provenance

  • 1911, Cast by Eugène Rudier (1875-1952) who continued using the mark of his father Alexis Rudier (?-1897)
  • 1911, February 1, Delivery date [archives, Musée Rodin, Paris]
  • 1911, June 1, Invoice date [archives, Musée Rodin, Paris]
  • 1911, October 27, Payment date [archives, Musée Rodin, Paris]
  • 1912, Rodin lent this sculpture to the Exhibition of Works by the Members of the Société de Peintres et de Sculpteurs of Paris (Boston, MFA), an organization of which he was the president. Once the sculpture was at the museum, a group of trustees raised the money for its purchase May 2, 1912
  • 1912, May 2, Museum of Fine Arts of Boston [archives, Musée Rodin, Paris]

Bibliography

  • Museum's website, 5 March 2012 and 21 March 2012
  • 1946 Rilke
    Rainer Maria Rilke, Rodin, London, Grey Walls Press, 1946, p.53-56
  • 1962 Payne
    Elizabeth H. Payne, "Jules Dalou, Friend of Rodin", Bulletin of The Detroit Institute of Arts, vol. 41, no. 3, spring 1962, p. 46, repr., p. 47
  • 1963 Elsen
    Albert E. Elsen, Rodin, New York, The Museum of Modern Art, 1963, p. 120, repr.
  • 1976 Tancock
    J.L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, The Collection of the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Museum of Art, 1976, p. 503
  • 1993 Butler
    Ruth Butler, Rodin: The Shape of Genius, New Haven and London, Yale Press University, 1993, p. 171, repr.
  • 2007 Le Normand-Romain (français)
    Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, avec la collaboration d'Hélène Marraud et Diane Tytgat, introductions par Dr. Ruth Butler et Mr. Régis Cusinberche, Rodin et le bronze. Catalogue des œuvres conservées au musée Rodin, 2 volumes, Paris, Musée Rodin / Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 2007, vol. 1, pp.284-285, Jules Dalou, 1883, cet exemplaire est cité p. 285 : "Fonte Alexis Ruder [...] Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, acq. par souscription à l'exp. itinérante de la Société de peintres et de sculpteurs de chez Georges Petit à Boston, 1912"
  • 2007 Le Normand-Romain (English)
    Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, with the collaboration of Hélène Marraud and Diane Tytgat, introductions by Dr. Ruth Butler and Mr. Régis Cusinberche, The Bronzes of Rodin. Catalogue of works in the Musée Rodin, 2 volumes, English version, Paris, Musée Rodin / Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 2007, vol. 1, pp.284-285, Jules Dalou, 1883, this copy is mentioned p.285: "Cast by Alexis Rudier [...] Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, acq. by subscription at the traveling exhibition La Société de Peintres et de Sculpteurs de chez Georges Petit, Boston, 1912"

Exhibitions

  • 1912 Boston

    Exposition de la Société de Peintres et de Sculpteurs de Paris, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, March 8-30, 1912, p. 79


    1971 Louisville

    Nineteenth Century French Sculpture: Monuments for the Middle Class, Louisville, J.B. Speed Art Museum, November 2-December 5, 1971, no. 82, p. 222-223, p. 228


    1980-1981 Los Angeles/Minneapolis/Detroit/Indianapolis

    The Romantics to Rodin. French Nineteenth-Century Sculpture from North American Collections, Organized and edited by Peter Fusco & Horst W. Janson, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 4-May 25, 1980; The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, June 25-September 21, 1980; The Detroit Institute of Arts, October 27, 1980-January 4, 1981; Indianapolis Museum of Art, February 22-April 29, 1981, no. 199, p.338, repr.


    1981 Boston

    Corot to Braque, Boston, Faneuil Hall Market, February 10-July 10, 1981

Related works

  • Bronze, Bremen, Kunsthalle.
    Bronze, 1909 cast, Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.
    Bronze, Detroit Institute of Arts.
    Bronze, Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle.
    Bronze, Nantes, Musée des Beaux-Arts.
    Bronze, 1910 cast, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
    Bronze, Paris, Musée Rodin.
    Bronze, Paris, Bibliothèque Jacques Doucet.
    Bronze, Philadelphia, Rodin Museum.
    Bronze, Prague, Narodni Galerie.
    Bronze, Stanford University Art Gallery and Museums.
    Bronze, Rome, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna.
    Bronze, Zurich, Collection Werner and Nelly Bär.
    Plaster, Avignon, Musée Calvet.
    Plaster, Musée de Bagnols-sur-Cèze.
    Plaster, Nice, Musée des Beaux-Arts.
    Plaster, Paris, Musée Rodin.
    Plaster, Paris, Petit Palais.

Comment

  • Museum's label text, 2011:
    Rodin and fellow-sculptor Jules Dalou (1838-1902) were students at the Petite Ecole de Paris in the 1850s; they remained friends throughout their lives, in spite of sometimes competing for important commissions. The original plaster model of this bust, a great success at the Paris Salon of 1884, was cast in bronze five years later. The portrait is one of Rodin's most penetrating and successful - closely observed, subtly modeled, and full of character.