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Auguste Rodin

The Walking Man (L'Homme qui marche), model 1878-1900, cast probably 1903

West Building, Ground Floor - Gallery 7

Medium

bronze

Dimensions

overall: 85.1 x 59.8 x 26.5 cm (33 1/2 x 23 9/16 x 10 7/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. John W. Simpson

Accession Number

1942.5.11

Artists / Makers

Auguste Rodin (sculptor) French, 1840 - 1917

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

incised on base between the feet: A. Rodin; in raised letters on underside of base inside left foot: A. Rodin; in raised letters behind right heel, on underside of base: A. Rodin

Provenance

Purchased 1903 from the artist by Mr. and Mrs. John W. Simpson, New York; gift 1942 to NGA.

Associated Names

Simpson, John W., Mrs.

Exhibition History

1905: Loan Collection of Paintings by Claude Monet and Eleven Sculptures by Auguste Rodin, The Copley Society of Boston, Copley Hall, 1905, no. 3, as Saint Jean, San Bras et Sans Tête.

1946: Rodin: Sculpture, Drawings, Prints, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1946, no. 8.

1965: Wax Sculptures by Degas, Sculptures and Drawings by Rodin, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965-1966, no cat.

1969: The Partial Figure in Modern Sculpture from Rodin to 1969, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland, 1969-1970, no. 60, repro.

1972: Rodin Drawings: True or False, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art, New York, 1972.

1974: Nineteenth-Century Sculpture, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1974, unnumbered checklist.

1981: Loan as single-object temporary exhibition, Gallaudet College, Washington, D.C., 1981.

1981: Rodin Rediscovered, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1981-1982, no. 286.

1993: In the Sculptor's Landscape: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years of the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden, Wight Art Gallery, Los Angeles, 1993, no. 82.

Bibliography

1889: Bartlett, Truman H. "Auguste Rodin, Sculptor." American Architect and Building News (19 January-15 June 1889): 99.

1913: Dujardin-Beaumetz, Henri-Charles Etienne. Entretiens avec Rodin. Paris, 1913: 65-66.

1917: Cladel, Judith. Rodin: The Man and His Art. Translated by S.K. Star. New York, 1917: 258-260.

1927: Grappe, Georges. Catalogue du Musée Rodin. Paris, 1927: 29.

1944: Grappe, Georges. Catalogue du Musée Rodin. 5th ed. Paris, 1944: 16-17.

1948: Cladel, Judith. Rodin. Paris, 1948: xvi-xix.

1954: Schmoll, J.A. Der Torso als Symbol und Form. Baden-Baden, 1954: 61-62.

1963: Elsen, Albert E. Rodin. New York, 1963: 28-33, 173-174, 180-181.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 168.

1967: Descharnes, Robert, and Jean-François Chabrun. Auguste Rodin. Lausanne, 1967: 55, 213.

1967: Elsen, Albert E., in collaboration with Henry Moore. "Rodin's 'Walking Man' as seen by Henry Moore." Studio International (July-August 1967): 26-31.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 148, repro.

1976: Tancock, John. The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin. Philadelphia, 1976: 357, 360, 364, 365, 369.

1977: de Caso, Jacques, and Patricia B. Sanders. Rodin's Sculpture: A Critical Study of the Spreckels Collection. San Francisco, 1977: 77-79.

1981: Vincent, Clare. "Rodin at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: A History of the Collection." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Spring 1981): 26.

1983: Schmoll, J.A. Rodin--Studien: Persönlichkeit--Werke--Wirkung--Bibliographie. Munich, 1983: 131-132, 135.

1986: Lampert, Catherine. Rodin: Sculpture & Drawings. Exh. cat. Hayward Gallery, London, 1986: 160-161.

1989: Goldscheider, Cécile. Auguste Rodin: catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre sculpté. Lausanne, 1989: 130.

1990: Pingeot, Anne. "Homme qui marche." In Le corps en morceau. Exh. cat. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 1990: 124-127.

1994: Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 209, repro.

1996: Kausch, Michael. Auguste Rodin: Eros und Leidenschaft. Exh. cat. Harrach Palace, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 1996: 255-256.

2000: Butler, Ruth, and Suzanne Glover Lindsay, with Alison Luchs, Douglas Lewis, Cynthia J. Mills, and Jeffrey Weidman. European Sculpture of the Nineteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 317-320, color repro.

2015: Barbour, Daphne, and Lisha Deming Glinsman. "August Rodin's Lifetime Bronze Sculptures in the Simpson Collection." Facture: conservation, science, art history 2 (2015): 54-81, fig. 2.

2023: Glinsman, Lisha Deming, Daphne Barbour and Shelley Sturman. "When the Workshop is Fluid: Observations on Parisian Bronze Casting in the Early Twentieth Century." Daphne Barbour, ed., Facture. Conservation, Science, Art History 6 (2023): 173 figs. 16, 17 (detail).