Youth Triumphant (La Jeunesse triomphante)

Auguste Rodin

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Object Label

In this enigmatic group Rodin joined the figures of an elderly and a young woman embracing. Their relationship is unclear: Rodin did not always attach a specific meaning or narrative to his works, nor did he grant too much importance to titles, leaving things open to a range of interpretations. The piece has also been called Fate and the Convalescent and Young Girl and Fate, which both seem to refer to the small scissors on the back. In this reading, the old woman is Fate, who has dropped her scissors and will not be snipping the delicate thread of the young woman’s life. The title Youth Triumphant suggests an allegory of the life cycle, with youth rising to overcome age.

The wizened old woman here epitomizes Rodin’s frequent interest in depicting unconventional or unidealized figures.

Caption

Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917). Youth Triumphant (La Jeunesse triomphante), 1896; cast date unknown (after 1898). Bronze, 20 1/2 x 18 x 12 3/4 in. (52.1 x 45.7 x 32.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, 84.210.2. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery

Not on view

Gallery

Not on view

Artist

Auguste Rodin

Cast by

Thiébaut Frères, Fumière & Gavignot successeurs

Title

Youth Triumphant (La Jeunesse triomphante)

Date

1896; cast date unknown (after 1898)

Geography

Place made: France

Medium

Bronze

Classification

Sculpture

Dimensions

20 1/2 x 18 x 12 3/4 in. (52.1 x 45.7 x 32.4 cm)

Signatures

Bottom right: "A. Rodin"

Markings

Side with feet, stamp for Thiébaut

Credit Line

Gift of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation

Accession Number

84.210.2

Frequent Art Questions

Is this a young couple? A precedent for The Kiss?
The Kiss was actually sculpture over a decade before this one! This sculpture, called "Youth Triumphant," shows an older woman and a younger woman. Rodin liked to combine and recombine limbs and figures he had sculpted in new ways, and often left works like this up to the individual interpretation of the viewer.
The older of the two women reappears in another work by Rodin called "The Helmet-Maker’s Wife."
While the women embrace, their relationship remains unclear, complicated by the multiple titles given to this work, including "Fate and the Convalescent" and "Young Girl and Fate."
Thank you!!!
Tell me more.
Not much is known about Rodin's inspiration for this sculpture, known as Youth Triumphant.
Like many of his works, what is especially interesting about this work, is the movement of the bodies. Rodin was particularly interested in conveying emotion through gesture. These figures' faces are largely obscured so you must turn to the bodies to begin to interpret it.
How did the reduction process work? Was it a mechanical process using some sort of 3D pantograph or did the workshop just copy a large work smaller?
It was a manual process with some mechanical assistance. To reduce works, Rodin and his assistants used a Collas Machine.
The Collas Machine basically allowed the person sculpting a reduced work to keep that work and the original sculpture at the exact same angle. Needles and a sharp cutting instrument attached to the machine would allow the sculptor to transfer the profile of one sculpture to the other.
Thanks!
The label mentions dropped scissors, is there a reason why the scissors would have been dropped behind?
In Greek mythology the "fates," figures that appear as old women, carry enchanted scissors that they use to end people's lives manifested in the form of a thread.
In this sculpture, the dropped scissors suggest that the Fate will not be cutting the young woman's thread and the young women will be able to go on living.