RODIN'S ART Rodin's Art The Rodin Collection of the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University A L B E RT E. E L S EN with ROSALYN FRANKEL JAMISON EDITED BY BERNARD BARRYTE WITH PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRANK WING THE IRIS & B. GERALD CANTOR CENTER FOR VISUAL ARTS AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY IN ASSOCIATION WITH OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 2OO3 OXPORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Dehli Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Sao Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Copyright © 2003 by Oxford University Press, Inc. and the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University and the Estate of Albert Elsen Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Elsen, Albert Edward, 1927- Rodin's art : the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Collection at Stanford University / by Albert E. Elsen with Rosalyn Frankel Jamison; edited by Bernard Barryte; photography by Frank Wing. p. cm. "The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University in association with Oxford University Press." Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-513380-3 (cloth); ISBN 0-19-513381-1 (paper) 1. Rodin, Auguste, 1840-1917—Catalogs. 2. Sculpture—California—Palo Alto—Catalogs. 3. Sculpture—Private Collections—California—Palo Alto—Catalogs. 4. Cantor, B. Gerald, 1916—Art collections—Catalogs. 5 Cantor, Iris—Art Collections—Catalogs. 6 Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University—Catalogs. I. Rodin, Auguste, 1840-1917. II. Jamison, Rosalyn Frankel. III. Barryte, Bernard. IV. Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University. V. Title. NB553.R7 A4 2002 730'.92—dc21 2001036139 Publication of this volume is made possible by a generous grant from The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21 Printed in Hong Kong on acid-free paper The way in which the artist arrives at his goal is the secret of his own existence. It is the measure of his own vision. Auguste Rodin The art of the sculptor is made of strength, exactitude, and will. In order to express life, to render nature, one must will and will with all the strength of the heart and brain. Auguste Rodin This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Foundation Foreword ix Director's Foreword xi Preface xiii Acknowledgments xv Two Genuine Articles 3 B. Gerald Cantor and the Stanford Rodin Collection 5 Introduction 13 The Many Lives of a Rodin Sculpture 21 Casting a Rodin Sculpture 30 CATALOGUE 35 The Patriotic Themes 36 The Burghers of Calais 65 Monuments to and Portraits of Artists 154 Other Portraits and Symbolic Heads 432 Small Sculptures 492 Partial Figures and the Hands 540 Ceramics 600 Drawings 608 Appendix 623 Selected Bibliography 649 Index 655 Photo Credits 662 PATRIOTIC THEMES / VII Fig. 1. B. Gerald Cantor, art collector, with his cast of The Kiss, New York, 1981. F O U N D A T I ON F O R E W O RD Without question, Stanford University is the home of the The majority of the art was given in 1974, when Mr. greatest concentration of Auguste Rodin's work outside Cantor had been collecting for almost thirty years. At the his estate in Paris. The product of an ardent friendship time the gift was hailed as one of the largest donations of between the munificent patron B. Gerald Cantor sculpture ever received by a museum from a private col- (1916-1996; fig. 1) and Stanford professor Albert Elsen lector. It prompted donations to Stanford from other col- (1927-1995), this unparalleled Rodin study center ben- lectors, and Mr. Cantor also made additional gifts in suc- efits Stanford's students, the San Francisco Bay Area ceeding years. In 1977 he was joined in his philanthropic community, and the world at large in a distinctly educa- pursuits by his wife, Iris, who now serves as Chairman tional way. Mr. Cantor and Professor Elsen worked for and President of the board of Directors of the Iris and B. years to tailor the content of the collection so that it Gerald Cantor Foundation (fig. 2). The couple shared a spanned all periods of Rodin's approximately fifty years strong belief that the greatest pleasure to be derived of creative production and so that comparisons could be from art comes in making it possible for others to learn made between the same works figures executed in both from it. B. Gerald Cantor's comments of record on phi- plaster and bronze, between reductions and enlarge- lanthropy were most often simply put: "Why not give it ments, and between the work of different foundries. This while you're alive and can see people enjoy it?" catalogue records the totality of Cantor's gifts of sculp- Placing Rodin sculpture in public spaces has been a ture, drawings, prints, photographs, and documents asso- persistent undertaking of the Cantors as evidenced by ciated with Rodin, which was accompanied by the the numerous sculpture gardens and galleries that bear donor's personal Rodin reference library (now in the Art their name around the country. Twenty monumental and Architecture Library, Stanford University). bronzes were chosen specifically for the one-acre B. Ger- A zealous collector, Mr. Cantor eagerly shared his ald Cantor Rodin Sculpture Garden at Stanford, which Rodins with the public. He also sought to clarify com- was conceived in the 1970s and opened officially in May mon misconceptions about what qualifies as an original 1985. Many of Rodin's best-loved sculptures are in bronze editions and to instill an appreciation of the included, notably The Gates of Hell, Adam, Eve, The Three value of the posthumous cast. Mr. Cantor chose Stanford Shades, monumental heads of two of the Burghers of as the recipient of his gifts because the university setting Calais, and The Walking Man. The Garden's design was allowed Rodin's work to be exhibited in terms of con- inspired by the Bagatelle Gardens in the Bois de noisseurship. He was confident the university would use Boulogne in Paris as well as by that city's Sculpture Salon the collection in the teaching of art history and that its of 1898 in the now-destroyed Galerie des Machines, with presence would be an intellectual inspiration. In 1969 its freestanding colonnade, cypress trees, grass, and he set his plan in motion by creating a research fund to gravel walks. Stanford's Garden is unique in that it has no support academic study of Rodin under Professor Elsen, fences or walls, and Professor Elsen once noted that its an endeavor that not only produced numerous impor- beauty is its sole protection, for it is open to the world 24 tant Rodin exhibitions and publications but also many hours a day throughout the year. Since its inception it scholars who hold positions in museums today. has been host to numerous public and private events; Al < IX >