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2023-05-08 052 Collosal Headof Balzac (clay 1898, bronze 1925); Rodin Museum, Philadelphia |
This work represents one of Rodin's last studies for Balzac's head. The deep hollow of the eyes is accentuated by a bulbous, beaklike nose. (Balzac reputedly told another sculptor, "Be careful of my nose, my nose is a world.") In Rodin's hands, the head became not so much a physical portrait of the great writer as a rendering of the location from which his art and genius arose. |