id: 166693 accession number: 2008.404 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.404 updated: The Genius of the Sculptor, c. 1880–83. Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917). Pen and brown ink; sheet: 26.3 x 18.9 cm (10 3/8 x 7 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.404 title: The Genius of the Sculptor title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1880–83 creation date earliest: 1880 creation date latest: 1883 current location: creditline: Bequest of Muriel Butkin copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: pen and brown ink department: Drawings collection: Drawings type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917) - artist --- measurements: Sheet: 26.3 x 18.9 cm (10 3/8 x 7 7/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: lightweight, translucent beige wove paper discolored to yellow-brown watermarks: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin opening date: 2001-08-26T00:00:00 French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001); Dahesh Museum of Art (February 19-May 18, 2002). title: Rodin in the United States: Confronting the Modern opening date: 2022-06-18T04:00:00 Rodin in the United States: Confronting the Modern. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA (organizer) (June 18-September 18, 2022) https://www.clarkart.edu/microsites/rodin/. --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Non-Dissenters: Fifth Exhibition Marking Our Tenth Anniversary. Shepherd Gallery, New York (November 1-December 31, 1976).

The Romantics to Rodin: French Nineteenth-Century Sculpture from North American Collections. Los Angeles County Museum of Art (March 4 - May 25, 1980); Minneapolis Institute of Arts (June 25 - September 21, 1980); Detroit Institute of Arts (October 27, 1980 - January 4, 1981).

Rodin's Monument to Victor Hugo. Los Angeles County Museum of Art (December 17, 1998 - March 15, 1999); Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR (April 13 - June 11, 1999); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (October 7, 1999 - January 2, 2000). --- PROVENANCE Marcel Louis Guérin [1873-1948; Lugt 1872b], Paris date: ?-1932 footnotes: citations: (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, December 9, 1932, no. 70) date: 1932 footnotes: citations: (Shepherd Gallery, New York, sold to Muriel Butkin, Shaker Heights, OH) date: 1976 footnotes: citations: Muriel Butkin [1916-2008], Shaker Heights, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1976-2008 footnotes: citations: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 2008- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: In other similar depictions of the theme seen in this drawing, Auguste Rodin depicted Genius as a woman. digital description: Auguste Rodin repeatedly explored the theme of creative male genius in major works, such as the famous Thinker, a cast of which sits outside the Cleveland Museum of Art on the south terrace. In this drawing, Rodin depicted the artist in active thought with his hand on his head, accompanied by a wingless “genius” floating above him. He derived this symbol of inner creative energy from the traditional subject of the winged muse, examples of which also appear on Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling as companions to God the Father. wall description: The Genius of the Sculptor treats an essential, self-referential theme in the art and life of Auguste Rodin. During his lifetime and afterward, he was viewed as the modern equivalent to the Renaissance genius of sculpture, Michelangelo (1475-1564). Moreover, Rodin repeatedly explored the theme of male creative genius in major works, such as the famous Thinker, a cast of which is owned by the museum. In this drawing, Rodin depicted the artist in active thought with his hand on his head, accompanied by a wingless "genius" floating up from him. He derived this symbol of inner creative energy from the traditional subject of the winged muse descending to inspire. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Lugt, Frits. Les Marques de collections de dessins et d'estampes. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1956. Online. page number: Mentioned: no. 1872b url: http://www.marquesdecollections.fr/detail.cfm/marque/8501/total/1 Non-Dissenters: Fifth Exhibition Marking Our Tenth Anniversary. Exh. Cat. New York: Shepherd Gallery, 1976. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: no. 146 url: Fusco, Peter, and H. W. Janson. The Romantics to Rodin: French Nineteenth-Century Sculpture from North American Collections. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1980. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 336-37, no. 197 url: Elsen, Albert E. Rodin Rediscovered. Exh. Cat. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1981. page number: Mentioned: pp. 106-7, 121 n. 9-11; Reproduced: fig. 5.3 url: Elsen, Albert E. The Gates of Hell by Auguste Rodin. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1985. page number: Mentioned: p. 221 url: Lampert, Catherine et al, Rodin: Sculpture and Drawings. Exh. Cat. London: Hayward Gallery, 1986. page number: Mentioned: p. 32 url: Butler, Ruth. The Shape of Genius. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993. page number: Mentioned: pp. 309-10; Reproduced: fig. 126 url: Butler, Ruth, Jeanine Parisier Plottel, and Jane Mayo Roos. Rodin's Monument to Victor Hugo. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1998. page number: Mentioned: pp. 71-72, 118, no. 22; Reproduced: fig. 37 url: Foster, Carter E., Sylvain Bellenger, and Patrick Shaw Cable. French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. Exh. Cat. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. page number: Mentioned: pp. 116-17, 143, no. 53; Reproduced: p. 117 url: Rodin, Auguste, Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, Christina Buley-Uribe, Patrick R. Crowley, C. D. Dickerson, Laure de Margerie, Véronique Mattiussi, Elyse Nelson, Jennifer A. Thompson, and Nora M. Rosengarten. Rodin in the United States: Confronting the Modern. Williamstown, Massachusetts : Clark Art Institute, 2022. page number: Mentioned: p.48, 218; reproduced: p. 218, cat. 102 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.404/2008.404_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.404/2008.404_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.404/2008.404_full.tif