The Bronze Age
The Bronze Age (French L'Âge d'airain = Bronze Age ) of 1875/76 was the first life-size figure with which Auguste Rodin appeared in public. The sculptor dispensed with meaningful attributes and created a figure that enabled several subjective interpretations of its posture and facial expression. It is often considered the beginning of modern sculpture .
On the one hand, the sculpture hid a wounded warrior who rests on an (imaginary) spear and places his right hand on a wound on his head; on the other, Rodin, inspired by the theories of Jean-Jacques Rousseau , tried to depict the awakening of humanity . Neither one nor the other motif dominates, so that the final interpretation is left to the viewer. Alternative German titles for the sculpture were “The man who wakes up in nature” or “The man of the first times”.
Locations (selection)
- Musée Rodin , Paris
- Musée d'Orsay , Paris (on loan to the Tretyakov Gallery , Moscow in 2006 )
- Old National Gallery , Berlin
- Folkwang Museum , Essen
- Castle museum in the Weimar City Palace
- National Gallery of Art , Washington DC
- Nasher Sculpture Center , Dallas, Texas
- Private collection in Europe; Molding made by the foundry Rudier, Paris in 1918, 2011 for € 4.1 million at Christie's , Paris
