The Société des Gens de Lettres (Paris, France) considered four different artists for the sculptural work before it was given to Rodin. The first was French neoclassical artist Henri Chapu, however, Chapu died in 1891 before the work could be finalized. Marquet de Vasselot was the next artist considered for the sculpture and provided a bust of the writer for the Societé. At the same time artists Millet and Coutan also applied for the commission.

Rodin was not initially considered for the work because at that point in time, around 1885, his career had not become as prominent. After the death of Chapu, the recently elected president of the Societé, Émile Zola strongly supported Rodin for the job and, so, the artist submitted a proposal to have a completed three-meter statue of the French novelist within an eighteen-month period which was approved.

The commission was in response to the elevated importance of Honoré de Balzac after his death. Balzac was one of the founders of the Societé as well as the second president of the organization. Upon his death in 1850 interest in creating a statue to commemorate the writer quickly developed under the leadership of Alexandre Dumas, père.

Preparation edit

Instead of the designated eighteen-month period of time, Rodin employed a lengthy seven years to finish the work. Rodin became infatuated with the literature of his subject as well as researched the character and personality of Balzac, similar to the writer's own approach to character development. In preparation for the sculpture, Rodin read the author's works as well as traveled numerous times to the author's hometown of Touraine in order to sketch and model clay portrait studies from individuals with similar likeness to the novelist although Rodin never saw him in person. Rodin had clothes resembling those of the Balzac's made by the writer's former tailor, using a cloak similar to Balzac's writing cloak for his final statue. The studies ranged from portrait to muscular and elderly nude figures along with humorous and distorted representations with sexual emphasis. Rodin repeatedly studied the cloak as well as different facial features that he derived from his observational studies and limited references including a daguerreotype of Balzac. Each sketch evolved and transformed into a different representation of the novelist varying from phallic nudes to heavily clothed and hidden figures.

In 1894, the Societé threatened to step in legally with the commission, turn the job over to artist Alexandre Falguière and take away Rodin's payment. Yet Rodin continued to ask for extensions on time making over fifty studies and continuously distanced himself from a true physical portrayal, tending towards a more psychological representation. The artist became infatuated with capturing the essence of the author's strength. In a message to writer Charles Chincholle in May 1898, Rodin explained his artistic pursuit:

The only thing I realize today is that the neck is too strong. I thought I had to enlarge it because according to me, modern sculpture must exaggerate the forms from the moral point of view. Through the exaggerated neck I wanted to represent strength I realize that the execution exceeded the idea.

In The Art of Dramatic Writing, Lajos Egri, perhaps apocryphally, describes the statue as originally having a pair of folded hands. After Rodin's students complimented the hands to the exclusion of the rest of the statue, he removed them, fearing they were overpowering.^[5]

Final study edit

The Final Study for the Monument to Balzac is a smaller version study for the final statue.^[6]

Rejection edit

Finally in 1898, Rodin presented a plaster study of the Balzac statue in the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. The sculpture was not received well by the critics; Rodin took the negativity as a personal attack. Many disliked the grotesque stature of the figure while others criticized the work as too similar to that of the Italian impressionist Medardo Rosso. As well, reports surfaced before the unveiling of the sculpture regarding anticipated dismay over the final outcome of the artwork. The Société des Gens de Lettres decided to disregard the commissioning of Rodin and not accept the sculpture.^[7]

Regardless of rejection from his commissionaires, contemporaries such as Paul Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec and Claude Monet supported Rodin in his point of view. Against the rejection a petition was raised in mid-1898 by supporters in the artistic community, and subscriptions to a fund of 30,000 francs to complete and install the work were raised,^[7] yet in the end, Rodin decidedly declined any bids for the work and kept the plaster artwork in his home at Meudon.

• France
  • Musée Rodin Paris
  • at the crossroads of boulevard Raspail and boulevard du Montparnasse, also known as carrefour Vavin, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris (since 1939)
• Germany
  • in front of Kunsthaus Lempertz, looking at Neumarkt square [de] in Cologne (since May 2022)
• Japan
  • Hakone Open-Air Museum
• Australia
  • National Gallery of Victoria (since 1968)^[8]

• List of sculptures by Auguste Rodin
• List of public art in Washington, D.C., Ward 2

• Chevillot, Catherine; Marraud, Hélène; Pinet, Hélène; Adamson, John (transl.) (November 2014). Rodin: The Laboratory of Creation. Dijon: Éditions Faton. ISBN 9782878442007.
• Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette (September 2014). Rodin. New York: Abbeville. ISBN 9780789212078.
• Miller, Joan Vita (1986). Rodin: the B. Gerald Cantor Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9780870994432.

• "Auguste Rodin: Final Study of the Monument to Balzac (1984.364.15)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/rodn/ho_1984.364.15.htm (October 2006)
• Pensive Texts and Thinking Statues: Balzac with Rodin, Naomi Schor, Critical Inquiry, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Winter, 2001), pp. 239–265 _(article consists of 27 pages) Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1344249
• Cladel, Judith. Rodin. New York: Hardcourt, Brace and Company, 1937. Print.
• Brians, Paul. Naturalism and Realism. 1 Mar. 2006. Web. <http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/naturalism.html>.
• Tacha Spear, Athena. Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. Print.
• Elsen, Albert E. In Rodin's Studio. Oxford: Phaidon Limited, 1980. Print.
• de Caso, Jacques. "Rodin and the Cult of Balzac". Vol. 106. Burlington Magazine Publications, 1964. Print. Ser. 735.
•   Media related to Monument à Balzac by Auguste Rodin (Musée Rodin) at Wikimedia Commons