Rodin_2011

10. Hand no. 20, Small Model (Main no. 20, petit modèle)

Conceived c. 1890 – 1908 , cast in 19 66 Bronze with dark green patina Height 2 inches ( 5 . 1 cm) Signed inside wrist; Foundry mark outside wrist: G. RUDIER/FOND.PARIS

provenance Musée Rodin, Paris; Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris (acquired from the above in December 19 66); M. Blum, US (a gift from the above); thence by descent; Private Collection. literature Jérôme Le Blay, Catalogue critique de l’Oeuvre sculpté d’Auguste Rodin (in preparation), Paris, no. 2007 V 10 6 8 B. Created mostly in the 1880 s and 1890 s, Rodin’s earliest studies of hands came about while the sculptor was working on the monumental, multi-figured Gates of Hell , although Rodin certainly thought of many of the hands as significant works in their own right. Foundry bills and receipts indicate that Rodin had a number of these works cast in bronze during his lifetime. It is difficult to identify most of these, except for the intensely expressive Clenched Hand of c. 1885 . Rodin exhibited a Small Clenched Right Hand internationally in 189 6, 1900 , and 1902 , and at least six casts of a large version of the Clenched Hand were produced during Rodin’s lifetime. In his later years, moreover, Rodin combined hand fragments on their own and with other figures to create striking assemblages, such The Hand of God (conceived c. 189 6), Large Clenched Hand with Figure (conceived 1907 ), and The Cathedral (conceived 1908 ). Rodin made gifts of plasters of hands to collectors, students, and museums. Indeed, a plaster cast of Hand no. 32 , now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was presented by Rodin to the Museum in 1912 . Another plaster example, now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, was acquired from Rodin in 1907 or 1908 by an American collector, probably as a gift from the artist. In 192 6, the Chairman of the Musée Rodin’s Board of Directors proposed that bronze editions of reduced versions of Rodin’s hands be cast, not only as a source of income, but also to be used by the museum as gifts. Most of these editions were made after the Second World War, between 1948 and 1977 .