The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 28, 2023

Bust of Victor Hugo

1883

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840–1917)

France, 19th century

Bronze

Overall: 56.2 x 26.8 x 26.1 cm (22 1/8 x 10 9/16 x 10 1/4 in.)

Bequest of James Parmelee 1940.580

Location

not on view

Description

Unlike most of Rodin’s portraits, the bust of Victor Hugo (1802–1885) was made from memory because the famous French writer refused to sit for the artist. Among Hugo’s best-known novels are The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862).

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed beneath fold of drapery to left: "A. Rodin"

Provenance
Knoedler
[M. Knoedler & Co.]; Estate of James Parmelee
Citations
Tacha, Athena. Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. Mentioned: p. 90-91, cat. no. III; Reproduced: p. [4], Plate 6 archive.org
Tacha, Athena. A Supplement to Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Mentioned: p. 124S, cat. no. III
Exhibition history

French Drawings and Watercolors from French Public and Private Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 6-February 15, 1942).

19th and 20th Century French Art and Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Loans. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 22-September 1, 1943).

Baron Gros, Painter of Battles: The First Romantic Painter. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 8-April 15, 1956).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1940.580