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Nov 7, 2005

The Age of Bronze

1875–76

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840–1917)

France, 19th century

Bronze

With base: 182.2 x 66.4 x 47 cm (71 3/4 x 26 1/8 x 18 1/2 in.)

Weight: 131.542 kg (290 lbs.)

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph King 1918.328

Location

218 European Sculpture

Did you know?

The sculpture suggests the heroism and suffering of his countrymen during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. This life-sized male figure was modeled after a Belgium soldier named August Neyt.

Description

Rodin’s earliest surviving life-size sculpture, The Age of Bronze is an enigmatic and provocative image of a man awakening to new consciousness. The figure originally held a spear in one hand; by removing the weapon, Rodin stripped the sculpture of narrative symbols and focused on the sensuality and psychological power of the male nude. Contemporaries found the figure so realistic they falsely accused Rodin of making a cast from a living person. Museum trustee Ralph King commissioned this cast from the artist in 1916 with the intention of donating it to the museum. Rodin personally supervised the exceptionally fine casting and finished it with his favorite patina, a deep reddish tone he called “crushed grape.”

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Inscriptions

Inscription

inscribed top of base to right: Rodin; inscribed back of base: A. RUDIER Fondeur Paris.

Provenance

1918

Mr. and Mrs. Ralph King, Cleveland, Ohio, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art

1918-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Smiley, Charles Newton. "Rodin in the Metropolitan Museum. " Art and Archaeology 3, no. 3 (March 1916): 164-171. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 170-171

"Modern Sculpture at the Museum." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 4, no. 6 (1917): 108-09. Mentioned: pp. 108-109 www.jstor.org

"Rodin Memorial Exhibition." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 4, no. 9 (1917): 162-63. Mentioned: p. 162 www.jstor.org

Seaton-Schmidt, Anna. "August Rodin: Man and Sculptor: An Appreciation." The American Magazine of Art 9, no. 4 (February 1918): 129-40. Reproduced: p. 135

"The Man of the Age of Bronze." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 5, no. 6/7 (1918): 63. Reproduced: Front Matter; Mentioned: pp. 63, 70 www.jstor.org

"Front Matter." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 6, no. 6 (1919). Reproduced: Front Matter www.jstor.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 333 archive.org

Milliken William Mathewson. The Cleveland Museum of Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1958. Reproduced: p. 9

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 175 archive.org

Tacha, Athena. Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. Mentioned: p. 94-95, cat. no. VII; Reproduced: p. [38], Plate 56 archive.org

Tacha, Athena. Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. Reproduced: pl. 56, cat. no. VII

Cleveland Museum of Art. Selected Works: Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: The Museum, 1967. Reproduced: p. 214

Jianu, Ionel, and Cécile Goldscheider. Rodin. Paris: Arted, 1967. Mentioned: p. 85

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 175 archive.org

Hamilton, George Heard. 19th and 20th Century Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1970. Reproduced: p. 140, fig. 126

Hamilton, George Heard. 19th and 20th Century Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1970. Reproduced: p. 140, pl. 126

Tacha, Athena. A Supplement to Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Mentioned: p. 126S-128S, cat. no. VII

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 217 archive.org

Henning, Edward B. Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1987. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 102-103, no. 10

Goldscheider, Cécile. Auguste Rodin: catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre sculpté. Paris, FR: Wildenstein Institute, 1989. Reproduced: p. 161, fig. 95b

Jiminez, Jill Berk, and Joanna Banham. Dictionary of Artists' Models. London: Fitzroy Dearborn, MI, 2001. Reproduced: p. 401

Treasures of the Cleveland Museum of Art. London, UK. Scala Books, 2012. Reproduced: p. 268-269

Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 290

Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. Reproduced: P. 21

Exhibition history

The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).

Art: The International Language. The Cleveland Museum of Art (October 2-November 4, 1956).

Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 16-November 8, 1987).

Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).

Rodin: A Magnificent Obsession - Selections from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation. Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH (organizer) (January 25-May 18, 2003).

Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Beijing World Art Museum, China (May 26-August 27, 2006); Mori Art Center (September 16-November 26, 2006); Seoul Art Center, South Korea (December 22, 2006-March 28, 2007); Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, South Korea (April 7-May 20, 2007); Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (June 9-September 16, 2007); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 15-June 1, 2008); Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT (June 22-September 21, 2008); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 12, 2008-January 18, 2009).

Rodin-100 Years. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 1, 2017-May 13, 2018).

Rodin—100 Years. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 1, 2017-May 13, 2018).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=The Age of Bronze|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1918.328|author=Auguste Rodin|year=1875–76|access-date=02 November 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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The Age of Bronze

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Auguste Rodin

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