Auguste Rodin
French, 1840–1917
Man with a Broken Nose
modeled 1863–64
Rodin modeled this sculpture, one of his first, on a handyman whose features he felt revealed a life of struggle. As he worked on the clay model in his studio during the winter, the freezing temperatures caused the back of the head to crack off. Rodin decided to cast the broken version in bronze, giving the finished piece the appearance of a mask. Looking back at this work twenty-five years later, the sculptor declared: “That mask determined all my future work.”
| Medium | bronze |
| Dimensions | Height: 9 1/2 in. (24.1 cm) |
| Object Number | 1955.971 |
| Acquisition | Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955 |
| Status | On View |
Image Caption
Auguste Rodin, Man with a Broken Nose, modeled 1863–64, bronze. Clark Art Institute, 1955.971
Select Bibliography
Cambridge (MA): Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University.. Metamorphoses in 19th-Century Sculpture. Nov. 19, 1975-Jan. 7, 1976, Cat. ed. Jeanne L. Wasserman, Harvard University Press, 1975.
