Head of Iris thumbnail 1
Head of Iris thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Sculpture, Room 21, The Dorothy and Michael Hintze Galleries

Head of Iris

Head
ca. 1908 (made)
Artist/Maker
Rudier (Founder)
Rodin (designer and maker)
Place of origin
France (made)

This is an enlarged version of the head of the Crouching Woman (Museum no. A.40-1914). It was probably enlarged by Henri Lebossé, Rodin's trusted associate, before being cast in bronze. The modernity of Rodin's approach is expressed here through the block-like forms and the seam lines left by the plaster moulds (these are usually removed). Their presence challenges conventional ideas of 'ideal beauty' and what might be conventionally accepted as a finished sculpture. Rodin's Head of Iris, like The Crouching Woman, was to have great influence on later 20th-century sculptors.


Object details

Category
Sculpture
Object type
Head
TitleHead of Iris (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Bronze
Bronze
Brief description
Head of Iris, by Auguste Rodin, French, bronze, ca. 1908
Dimensions
  • Height: 59cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • A. Rodin (Inscribed to right on base)
  • ALEXIS.RUDIER./FONDEUR.PARIS (On back of base)
Gallery label
  • Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) Head of Iris Before 1911 This is a version of the head of the Crouching Woman, displayed nearby. It was probably enlarged by Henri Lebossé, Rodin’s trusted associate, before being cast in bronze. The block-like form and the seam lines left by the plaster mould challenged conventional ideas of beauty, form and what constituted finished sculpture at that time. Rodin’s increasingly abstract approach to the human figure proved influential for 20th-century sculptors. Paris Bronze, cast by Alexis Rudier(2021)
  • This is a version of the head of the Crouching Woman, displayed nearby. It was probably enlarged by Henri Lebossé, Rodin's trusted associate, before being cast in bronze. The block-like form and the seam lines left by the plaster mould challenged conventional ideas of beauty, form and what constituted finished sculpture at that time.(March 2007)
Credit line
Given by Rodin in November 1914
Object history
Given by Rodin in November 1914
Summary
This is an enlarged version of the head of the Crouching Woman (Museum no. A.40-1914). It was probably enlarged by Henri Lebossé, Rodin's trusted associate, before being cast in bronze. The modernity of Rodin's approach is expressed here through the block-like forms and the seam lines left by the plaster moulds (these are usually removed). Their presence challenges conventional ideas of 'ideal beauty' and what might be conventionally accepted as a finished sculpture. Rodin's Head of Iris, like The Crouching Woman, was to have great influence on later 20th-century sculptors.
Bibliographic references
  • Elsen, Albert E., Rodin's Art, the Rodin Collection of the Iris & B Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2003, p.471
  • Alley, R. Tate Gallery Catalogue: Foreign Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture. London, 1959. p. 217.
  • Antoinette, Le Normand-Romain. The Bronzes of Rodin: Catalogue of Works in the Musée Rodin. London : Lund Humphries ; Paris : Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2007. pp. 145-159. ill. 8.4.
  • Mitchell, Claudine. The Gift to the British Nation: Rodin at the V&A. In: Mitchell, Claudine. ed.Rodin: The Zola of Sculpture. Henry Moore Institute, 2003. pp. 183-200.
  • Trusted, Majorie. ed. The Making of Sculpture: the Materials and Techniques of European Sculpture. London: V&A Publications, 2007. p. 62. pl. 100.
  • Antoinette, Le Normand-Romain. The Bronzes of Rodin: Catalogue of Works in the Musée Rodin. London : Lund Humphries ; Paris : Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2007. p. 457.
  • Lampert, Catherine, Rodin, London, Royal Academy of Arts, 2006
  • Lampert, Catherine, Rodin, Sculpture and Drawings, Hayward Gallery, Arts Council of Great Britain, 1986
  • Nesbitt, Judith (ed.), Venus re-defined: sculpture by Rodin, Matisse and contemporaries, Tate Gallery Liverpool, 1994 p.20
Collection
Sculpture Collection
Accession number
A.41-1914

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Record createdJune 5, 2007
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O135950/head-of-iris-head-rodin/
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