The Bronzes of Rodin

For the very first time, the 445 bronze sculptures kept at the Rodin museum are gathered and presented in the form of an annotated catalogue. Thanks to Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, director of the Institut National d'histoire de l'art, general curator for Patrimony in charge of the sculptures at the Rodin museum from 1994 to 200, it offers the reader to discover an essential part of the work of one the Masters of sculpture: Auguste Rodin. Each work is the subject of a thorough study. The notes, arranged alphabetically following the sculptures' titles and with inventory number, come with a rich technical apparatus: font type, founder, history, successive editions and other specimens known in public collections in France and abroad, related works, and bibliography. It is followed by an exhaustive and precise comment explicating the creation and the evolution of the sculpture. Work after work, note after note, the sculptor is revealed and discovered freshly: the artist is omnipresent, from the creating process to the research for new sheens for his bronzes. This catalogue raisonne is increased by an introduction by the author highlighting Rodin's then the museum's relationship to the founders. Ruth Butler presents the history of the relations between B. Gerald Cantor and the Rodin museum, whereas Maître Régis Cusinberche, advocate at the Bar in Paris, sums up the laws and jurisprudence about the edition of bronze.