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Female Nude with Long Hair, Leaning Backwards
Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
Rodin was interested in extreme body positions. The models he found who were able to hold such poses were dancers, music hall artists or circus performers. This figure, leaning so far backwards that her back is at a right angle to her legs, was probably inspired by his model Alda Moreno, whose appearance we know from press photographs. Many of Rodin’s drawings and several of his cut-outs show the same pose.
Rodin began by outlining the figure in pencil before painting it in watercolor. The colors are usually very soft; the green he used here is both unusual and original. The simplified, stylized depiction of the figure tends towards abstraction, doing away with volume―surprisingly, for a drawing by a sculptor. A comparison of this cut-out with two others of the same subject shows that the hair was added with a brush loaded with brown watercolor, after the completion of the figure. The face is undefined; the feet were cut off… What characterizes the woman, almost reduced to a geometric figure, is her long, thick mane of hair.
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Completion date :
1896-1910
Dimensions :
H. 27.5 cm; W. 21.4 cm
Materials :
Graphite pencil and watercolor on vellum, cut out
Inventory number :
D.05222
Credits :
© musée Rodin - photo Jean de Calan
Additional information
Iconography
- Female Nude with Long Hair, Leaning Backwards(zip, 395.1 ko)
