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Auguste Rodin

Hand of Rodin with a Female Figure, 1917

West Building, Ground Floor — Gallery G1-C

Medium

plaster

Dimensions

overall (greatest extension): 22.9 cm (9 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. John W. Simpson

Accession Number

1942.5.22

Artists / Makers

Auguste Rodin (sculptor) French, 1840 - 1917

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

Gift probably 1921 from the Musée Rodin to Mrs. John W. Simpson, New York;[1] gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] This work could only have been given to Mrs. Simpson after Rodin's death in November 1917, and presumably after the end of World War I in November 1918. The most likely time for Léonce Bénédite, the first director of the Musée Rodin, to have made such a gift was in 1921, when Mrs. Simpson donated funds to restore Rodin's home in Meudon. She had been there in the spring of 1921 and told Bénédite how disturbed she was by its dilapidated state (Musée Rodin curatorial files).

Associated Names

Simpson, John W., Mrs.

Exhibition History

1946: Rodin: Sculpture, Drawings, Prints, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1946, no. 14, as Study of Hand and Figure.

1965: Wax Sculptures by Degas, Sculptures and Drawings by Rodin, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965-1966, no cat.

1981: Rodin Rediscovered, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1981-1982, no. 138.

Bibliography

1927: Grappe, Georges. Catalogue du Musée Rodin. Paris, 1927: 119.

1936: Cladel, Judith. Rodin: Sa vie glorieuse, sa vie inconnue. Paris, 1936: 402.

1944: Grappe, Georges. Catalogue du Musée Rodin. 5th ed. Paris, 1944: 139.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 169.

1967: Descharnes, Robert, and Jean-François Chabrun. Auguste Rodin. Lausanne, 1967: 271.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 147, repro.

1969: Elsen, Albert E. The Partial Figure in Modern Sculpture. Exh. cat. The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1969: 28.

1976: Tancock, John L. The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin : the Collection of the Rodin Museum, Philadelphia. Boston, 1976: 637-638.

1983: Schmoll, J.A. Rodin--Studien: Persönlichkeit--Werke--Wirkung--Bibliographie. Munich, 1983: 83, 120.

1987: Ambrosini, Lynne, and Michelle Facos. Rodin: The Cantor Gift to the Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn, 1987: 141.

1990: Pingeot, Anne. "Homme qui marche." In Le corps en morceau. Exh. cat. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 1990: 174.

1992: Barbier, Nicolle. Rodin sculpteur: Oeuvres méconnues. Exh. cat. Musée Rodin, Paris, 1992: 84.

1994: Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 203, repro.

1995: Didi-Huberman, Georges. "Figée à son insu dans un moule magique..." Les Cahiers du Musée Nationale. Paris, 1995: 105-107.

2000: Butler, Ruth, and Suzanne Glover Lindsay, with Alison Luchs, Douglas Lewis, Cynthia J. Mills, and Jeffrey Weidman. European Sculpture of the Nineteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 407-408, color repro.

2009: Parshall, Peter, et al. The Darker Side of Light: Arts of Privacy, 1850-1900. Exh. cat., Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago. Washington, D.C., 2009: 138-142, 141 fig. 6.