The Athlete (Rodin)

The Athlete
Artist	Auguste Rodin
Year	1901 to 1904

The Athlete is a 1901-1904 black-patina bronze sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin[1] It measures 39,4 × 27,5 × 24,3 cm.[2]

Development

The model for it was Samuel Stockton White III,[3] a member of the gymnastics teams at Princeton University and the University of Cambridge.[4] White recalled:

...he made me come and go from his studio so as to see me from different angles. Finally he asked me to adopt a natural posture and to place myself as I liked. I sat on a chair, in the most simple and natural position, resting my arms on my legs ... Rodin liked that position and immediately began to work ... with an infinite sense of detail

Similar works

During the same period Rodin also produced The American Athlete, with more exaggerated musculature and its head turned to the right. He presented both works to their model. Despite several variants, they are both lesser-known works of Rodin.[5]

Another version of this bronze called "The Athlete" (1901-4, cast 1959), with the head turned to the left, is preserved at The Kreeger Museum in Washington D.C. It measures 18 x 13 x 12 1/2 inches (45,7 x 33,0 x 31,7 cm).[6]

See also

• List of sculptures by Auguste Rodin

References

1. "The American Athlete". Philadelphia: Rodin Museum. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
2. ^[ reference needed]
3. "Samuel Stockton White, III". geni_family_tree. 2021-05-07. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
4. Museo Soumaya. Fundación Carlos Slim, México, 2015, p. 139.
5. (in Spanish) Balius iJuli, Ramón (Junio de 2009). «El atleta de Auguste Rodin». Apunts Med Esport.
6. "Permanent Collection | The Kreeger Museum : The Athlete - Rodin". www.kreegermuseum.org. Retrieved 2024-03-12.

External links

• Media related to The Athlete by Auguste Rodin at Wikimedia Commons