Head of the Tragic Muse (Tête de la Muse tragique)
European Art
This remarkable bust was originally created for Rodin’s Monument to Victor Hugo, as part of an allegorical female figure speaking passionately to the author. A number of critics decried it as an unfinished deformity. Others felt her shifting, fluid features effectively symbolized the processes of consciousness, creativity, or genius. As one critic remarked, Rodin’s tragic muse certainly broke with tradition, being “at a droll remove from the licked prettiness of the customary nymph.’’
What remains startling today is the degree to which Rodin abandoned lifelike representation in this work. It had instead become about the emotional impact—divorced from facial or narrative legibility—conveyed by the artist’s visible manipulation of the material.
What remains startling today is the degree to which Rodin abandoned lifelike representation in this work. It had instead become about the emotional impact—divorced from facial or narrative legibility—conveyed by the artist’s visible manipulation of the material.
CAST BY
Georges Rudier Fondeur, Paris
MEDIUM
Bronze
DATES
1895; cast 1979
DIMENSIONS
11 5/8 x 7 1/4 x 9 7/8 in. (29.5 x 18.4 x 25.1 cm) (show scale)
MARKINGS
Back, proper left side of neck at bottom edge: ".Georges Rudier./.Fondeur Paris."
Back, proper right side at base of neck: "© by Musée Rodin 1979"
SIGNATURE
Bottom left side: "A. Rodin"
INSCRIPTIONS
Neck, proper left: "No 5"
COLLECTIONS
European Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
84.75.12
CREDIT LINE
Gift of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917). Head of the Tragic Muse (Tête de la Muse tragique), 1895; cast 1979. Bronze, 11 5/8 x 7 1/4 x 9 7/8 in. (29.5 x 18.4 x 25.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, 84.75.12. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 84.75.12_bw.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 84.75.12_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
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