Conceived between 1907 and 1908, cast in 1956
Masque d’Hanako, Ètude Type E [Mask of Hanako, Study Type E]
Height
17.8 cm
Inventory Number
Bronze with brown and red patination.
Materials
Marks & Inscriptions
RCG0020
Signed A. Rodin. Inscribed © by Musée Rodin 1956 and Georges Rudier Fondeur Paris. Edition of 10.
Images
Conceived between 1907 and 1908, this example was cast in 1956. A few examples of this work were produced by the Alexis Rudier foundry prior to 1910. Seven casts were made for the Musée Rodin by the Alexis Rudier foundry between 1917 and 1950 and a further ten casts by the Georges Rudier foundry between 1954 and 1956.
Unlike Degas who was interested by dancers purely as subject matter, Rodin was drawn to dancers for what they taught him about movement. During his last decade of his life, Rodin rarely tackled large works; possibly they were too difficult for him. This was how-ever the period when he modelled many dancers.
Rodin portrayed the Japanese actress Ohta Hisa (1868-1945), known as Hanako, more often than any other sitter. No less than fifty-eight different heads and masks of her were modelled between 1907 and 1911, now preserved along with drawings in the Musée Rodin, Paris. This extensive collection conveys the impression that Rodin was studying someone who became a treasured friend and that the studies were intended for intimate viewing.
In 1906, while in Marseilles to study the Royal Cambodian dancers, Rodin met the thirty-seven-year-old Geisha. She belonged then to a troupe directed by the modern dance pioneer, Loie Fuller, who gave her the name ‘Hanako’, meaning ‘little flower’.
Rodin was astounded by Hanako’s skill in holding difficult poses but it was the mobility of her facial features that fascinated him the most. He found her Kabuki-style expressions of torment and fury particularly compelling. Judith Cladel, Rodin’s friend and biographer described one of Hanako’s sittings:
‘Hanako did not pose like other people. Her features were contracted in an expression of cold, terrible rage. She had the look of a tiger, an expression thoroughly foreign to our occidental countenances. With the force of will the Japanese display in the face of death, Hanako was able to hold this look for hours’.
This mask Type E however shows a softer more thoughtful expression, which Hanako said was modelled when she and the artist were out walking together.
Openning Hours
10:00am – 6:00pm
Location
The Arkın Clock Tower - Arkın Group Headquarters
Conceived between 1907 and 1908, this example was cast in 1956. A few examples of this work were produced by the Alexis Rudier foundry prior to 1910. Seven casts were made for the Musée Rodin by the Alexis Rudier foundry between 1917 and 1950 and a further ten casts by the Georges Rudier foundry between 1954 and 1956.
Unlike Degas who was interested by dancers purely as subject matter, Rodin was drawn to dancers for what they taught him about movement. During his last decade of his life, Rodin rarely tackled large works; possibly they were too difficult for him. This was how-ever the period when he modelled many dancers.
Rodin portrayed the Japanese actress Ohta Hisa (1868-1945), known as Hanako, more often than any other sitter. No less than fifty-eight different heads and masks of her were modelled between 1907 and 1911, now preserved along with drawings in the Musée Rodin, Paris. This extensive collection conveys the impression that Rodin was studying someone who became a treasured friend and that the studies were intended for intimate viewing.
In 1906, while in Marseilles to study the Royal Cambodian dancers, Rodin met the thirty-seven-year-old Geisha. She belonged then to a troupe directed by the modern dance pioneer, Loie Fuller, who gave her the name ‘Hanako’, meaning ‘little flower’.
Rodin was astounded by Hanako’s skill in holding difficult poses but it was the mobility of her facial features that fascinated him the most. He found her Kabuki-style expressions of torment and fury particularly compelling. Judith Cladel, Rodin’s friend and biographer described one of Hanako’s sittings:
‘Hanako did not pose like other people. Her features were contracted in an expression of cold, terrible rage. She had the look of a tiger, an expression thoroughly foreign to our occidental countenances. With the force of will the Japanese display in the face of death, Hanako was able to hold this look for hours’.
This mask Type E however shows a softer more thoughtful expression, which Hanako said was modelled when she and the artist were out walking together.
Images