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Kneeling Fauness (Faunesse à genoux)

Kneeling Fauness (Faunesse à genoux)

Auguste Rodin

Auguste Rodin is one of the most influential sculptors of the modern age. His work linked two centuries, integrating aspects of nineteenth-century artistic traditions with modern innovations of the twentieth century. Although Rodin struggled early in his career—his admission to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris was rejected three times—he was regarded as a master equal to Michelangelo by the end of his life. Believing in making his art as widely available as possible, Rodin authorized many bronze and marble editions of his sculptures. Rodin created Fauness for his largest commission, The Gates of Hell, a monumental portal intended for the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. Inspired by Dante’s Inferno, the doors consist of hundreds of small figures arranged into scenes from Dante’s text. Rodin worked on the project for thirty-seven years, and although never completed, it was the source of many of his best-known individual sculptures. The kneeling Fauness is typical of the expressive nature of Rodin’s figures. The graceful curves of the body contrast with the distorted facial features. Rodin frequently combined such contrasts with complicated poses, with the result that the figure’s external tensions and contortions would reflect internal passions, pain, or anguish.
Artist
Auguste Rodin
(French, 1840 - 1917)
Title
Kneeling Fauness (Faunesse à genoux)
Date
ca. 1882-1884; date of cast unknown
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
24 1/4 H in. Overall
Credit
Gift of Frank G. Hood
Accession No.
62.7.2
Classification
Sculpture
Geography
France

Related

October 1962, gifted by Frank G. Hood (La Crosse, WI) to the University of Wisconsin-Madison; 1967, transferred to the Elvehjem Art Center [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

  • Elvehjem Art Center. "Inaugural Exhibition: 19th & 20th Century Art from Collections of Alumni & Friends." Madison, WI: Regents of the University of Wisconsin, 1970. p. 31, no. 14
  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Handbook of the Collection." Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, 1990. no. 94
  • Tancock, John L. "The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin: The Collection of the Rodin Museum Philadelphia." Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1976. pp. 168-171, fig. II

  • Inaugural Exhibition: 19th & 20th Cen. Art from Collection of Alumni & Friends: Elvehjem Art Center, 9/11/1970–11/8/1970

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