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Gallery Text

Rodin deemed a head and arms to be superfluous to this sculpture; stripped of these, the torso and legs alone express the essential concept of movement. Rodin created many such fragments (that is, sculptures purposefully lacking limbs) as he experimented with simplification and pure forms of expression. He found that by removing “extraneous” elements, he could focus attention on motion as the main feature of a work. Walking Man was assembled from elements of two sculptures Rodin had made earlier in his career. He took studies of legs he had created for a sculpture of St. John the Baptist and united them with an unfinished, rough-surfaced torso crafted for the same project. Rodin wrote how deeply he was inspired by fragmentary Classical sculpture, declaring that “these divine fragments . . . move me more profoundly than living persons.” An avid collector of Classical art, Rodin displayed selections from his antiquities collection alongside his own creations in his home and studio.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.1148
People
Auguste Rodin, French (Paris, France 1840 - 1917 Meudon, France)
Title
The Walking Man
Other Titles
Alternate Title: L'Homme Qui Marche
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
1899-1900
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/229922

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3200, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Classical Sculpture
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
84.1 x 58.4 x 28.3 cm (33 1/8 x 23 x 11 1/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: on base: A. Rodin
  • inscription: on base: a J. Sargent/affectueux admirateur/A Rodin

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Gift? of Auguste Rodin; to John Singer Sargent, 1877, sold; [through Sargent sale, Christie's, London, 1925, lot 66]. [Christie's, 1925], sold; to David Croal Thompson, London. Grenville Lindall Winthrop, purchased in London[via Martin Birnbaum], 1927, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.1148
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

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Publication History

  • Martin Birnbaum, John Singer Sargent, January 12, 1856-April 15, 1925: A Conversation, William E. Rudge's Sons (New York, NY, 1941), p. 16
  • Albert Edward Elsen, "Rodin's 'Walking Man' as seen by Henry Moore", Studio International, Studio Trust (London, England, July 1967 - August 1967)
  • Ionel Jianou and Cecile Goldscheider, Rodin, Editions d'Art, Arted, Paris (Paris, France, 1967), p. 87
  • John L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, David R. Godine and Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, PA, 1976), pp. 357-369
  • Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: The Early Portraits, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1998), pp. 150 - 151
  • Trevor J. Fairbrother, "Possessions and Props: The Collection of John Singer Sargent", The Magazine Antiques (February 2001), vol. 159, no. 2, pp. 314-323, p. 315, repr. as pl. II
  • Stephan Wolohojian, ed., A Private Passion: 19th-Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, Harvard University, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press (U.S.) (New York, 2003), no. 120, pp. 294-295, repr. in color
  • Stephan Wolohojian, Ingres, Burne-Jones, Whistler, Renoir... La Collection Grenville L. Winthrop, exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, France, 2003), no. 120, pp. 302-303, repr. in color

Exhibition History

  • A Private Passion: 19th-Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, Harvard University, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 10/23/2003 - 01/25/2004
  • Re-View: S427 Impressionist & Postimpressionist Art, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/02/2008 - 06/18/2011
  • 32Q: 3200 West Arcade, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu