Rodin—Le Penseur, Paris

Artist Edward Steichen (American, born Luxembourg, 1879 - 1973)

Date1902

MediumPhotogravure

DimensionsImage and sheet: 6 1/16 × 7 1/4 inches (15.4 × 18.42 cm)
Mount: 11 9/16 × 8 1/16 inches (29.37 × 20.48 cm)

Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Object number2005.27.2175

SignedSigned on image, lower left, in negative: "STEICHEN / [Roman numerals resembling - MDCCCCII]"; Initialed on mount recto, lower right corner, in pencil: "E.S."

InscribedTitled on mount recto, lower right, in pencil: "Rodin - Le Penseur"

MarkingsOn mount verso, upper right, in pencil: "C.W. 1906 / pl"

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionSilhouette of a man (Rodin) in left foreground facing silhouette of Le Penseur (The Thinker) statue in right foregound. A white statue of a man (Victor Hugo) in center of background.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

New Acquisitions to the Hallmark Photographic Collection 1980-1983. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, April 1 - May 1, 1983.

Photographic Abstraction. Utah State University, Logan, UT, Sierra Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV, Fine Art Center/Cheekwood, Nashville, TN, Montgomery Museum of Art, AL, January – September 1987, no cat.

Selections from the Hallmark Photographic Collection. Highland Community College, Highland, KS, October 19 - November 11, 1993, no cat.

Twentieth-Century Photographers: Selections from the HPC. Columbus College of Art & Design, Columbus, OH, March 28 - April 27, 1996, no cat.

Rotation 8. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, May 12 – October 11, 2010, no cat.

Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, October 1, 2011 – November 28, 2016, no cat.

Gallery Label

Edward Steichen's photographs were deeply informed by his knowledge of and deep admiration for the currents of avant-garde art of the period. He particularly admired the great sculptor Auguste Rodin, whom he first met and befriended in 1900. Steichen photographed Rodin and his works repeatedly in the following years, creating a deeply sympathetic, even reverential image of solitary, creative genius. Here, Steichen contrasts Rodin's stolid presence with one of his signature works.

Provenance

Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 1980;
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.

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