The ''Bust of Victor Hugo'' is an 1883 patinated plaster sculpture by the French artist
Auguste Rodin of the Romantic writer
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
. It is now in the
Museo Soumaya
The Museo Soumaya is a private museum in Mexico City and a non-profit cultural institution with two museum buildings in Mexico City — Plaza Carso and Plaza Loreto. It has over 66,000 works from 30 centuries of art including sculptures from Pre- ...
in Mexico City.
Work
In 1883 the journalist Edmond Bazire advised Rodin to cement his reputation by producing a portrait of a notable personality. Rodin thus approached Hugo - he agreed to sittings but refused to sit for longer than 30 minutes. However, he did invite Rodin to stand in the porch of Hugo's house on
Avenue d'Eylau
Avenue d'Eylau is a two-way street in Paris' 16th arrondissement. It connects the Place du Trocadéro-et-du-11-Novembre and the Place de Mexico, 300 meters to the north-west. It is named after Napoleon's victory at the Battle of Eylau
Th ...
in Paris to make additional drawings from a distance whilst Hugo worked in his living room.
He made these drawings from different angles between February and April 1883, capturing a range of different angles and expressions.
He later made frontal and three-quarter-view engravings.
Versions
The work in Mexico is the first version of the work, cast in bronze in June 1884 and exhibited at the
Paris Salon.
Rodin continued to refine the image, producing a second version in 1884 and refining the 1883 work until 1885, around the time of Hugo's death. Rodin used a larger version of the 1883 work to produce his
Monument to Victor Hugo in 1887.
[ Museo Soumaya. México: Fundación Carlos Slim. 2015. p. 88. .]
See also
*
List of sculptures by Auguste Rodin
This article lists a selection of notable works created by Auguste Rodin. The listing follows the books ''Rodin, Vie et Oeuvre'' and ''Rodin''.
Sculptures
Museums
*Albertinum, Dresden
*Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
*Art Institute of ...
References
External links
*
{{Victor Hugo
1883 sculptures
Plaster sculptures
Sculptures by Auguste Rodin
Sculptures in the Museo Soumaya
Cultural depictions of Victor Hugo
Busts in Mexico