The Three Shades

Les Trois Ombres
Les Trois Ombres, plaster original, Musée Rodin, Paris, 1886
ArtistAuguste Rodin
MediumPlaster, later bronze

The Three Shades (Les Trois Ombres) is a sculptural group produced in plaster by Auguste Rodin in 1886 for his The Gates of Hell.[1][2] He made several individual studies for the Shades before finally deciding to put them together as three identical figures gathered around a central point. The heads hang low so that the neck and shoulders form an almost-horizontal plane. They were to be placed above the gates looking down on the viewer.[3]

Casts

It was later cast in bronze in several editions, with such casts now in the Musée Rodin in Paris,[4] the Cantor Sculpture Garden at Stanford University, in the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, the Museo Soumaya in Mexico, and the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, TN. An autograph plaster copy dating to 1917 is also in the Musée d'arts de Nantes.[5][6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Cheruy, Rene. "Rodin Won Fame Through Poverty." Hartford, Connecticut: The Hartford Daily Courant, January 20, 1929, p. E5 (subscription required).
  2. ^ Fried, Alexander. "Rodin—A Master Sculptor's Art Again Flourishes." San Francisco, California: The San Francisco Examiner, October 13, 1963, "Show Time" section, pp. 1, 17 (subscription required).
  3. ^ Cheruy, Rene. "Rodin's 'Gates of Hell' Comes to America." Billings, Montana: The Billings Gazette, January 29, 1929, pp.8-9, 12 (subscription required).
  4. ^ Notice complète de l'œuvre Les Trois Ombres Archived 2017-04-04 at the Wayback Machine on the musée Rodin site
  5. ^ Cheruy, "Rodin's 'Gates of Hell' Comes to America," The Billings Gazette, January 29, 1929, pp.8-9, 12.
  6. ^ Moffat, Frances. "The 'Three Shades' Are About to Hit the Road." San Francisco, California: The San Francisco Examiner, February 3, 1963, "Society" section, p. 2 (subscription required).