Collection

Pierre de Wiessant, Type B Head (Pierre de Wissant, tête Type B)

Auguste Rodin

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Object Label

Rodin executed several differently sized heads in preparation for the final version of Pierre de Wiessant. This variant was his ultimate choice for the head and is identical to it in size.

The rough contours and the knuckle impression at the top of the nose are evidence of the artist’s forceful manipulation of the clay model. For Rodin, this undulating surface manifested his subject’s inner psychological turbulence: ‘‘I have always tried to express interior feelings through the mobility of the muscles.’’ He allowed this emotional realism to coexist with clear evidence of the sculpture’s manufacture: The seams of the casting process remain visible on its surface.

Caption

Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917). Pierre de Wiessant, Type B Head (Pierre de Wissant, tête Type B), 1885 or 1886; cast before 1952. Bronze, 11 1/4 × 8 1/2 × 9 in., 11 lb. (28.6 × 21.6 × 22.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor, 84.77.9. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery

Not on view

Title

Pierre de Wiessant, Type B Head (Pierre de Wissant, tête Type B)

Date

1885 or 1886; cast before 1952

Geography

Place made: France

Medium

Bronze

Classification

Sculpture

Dimensions

11 1/4 × 8 1/2 × 9 in., 11 lb. (28.6 × 21.6 × 22.9 cm)

Signatures

Neck, proper left: "A. Rodin"

Markings

Back of neck: ".Alexis Rudier./.Fondeur. Paris."

Credit Line

Gift of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor

Accession Number

84.77.9

Frequent Art Questions

  • Who did Rodin use as his models? People he knew or just from memory?

    Rodin did sculpt people he knew personally, including his long-time companion Rose Beuret, whose body was the model for many of Rodin's female figures.
    He was also interested in the professionally trained body and hired dancers and athletes to pose in his studio. Sometimes when he wanted to sculpt the portrait of a deceased person, he would try to find a living model that resembled them. For example, when Rodin won the commission to make a monument to Balzac, he traveled to the writer's hometown to find a man that resembled him!
    Did he ever do a sculpture of himself?
    I know that he drew self portraits of himself. One scholar has argued that one of the sculpted figures for the Gates of Hell is a self-portrait, although I think that is open to debate!

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Artists and makers

Auguste Rodin

75 works in the collection

Alexis Rudier Fondeur, Paris

6 works in the collection