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Polyphemus and Acis

1888

Auguste Rodin, Alexis Rudier, Eugène Rudier

Not on view

Artist: Auguste Rodin (French, 1840 - 1917)
Makers: Eugène Rudier (French, 1875 - 1952), Alexis Rudier (French, 1854 - 1897)
Foundry: Rudier Foundry (1874 - 1952)
Title: Polyphemus and Acis
Date: 1888
Place of Creation: France
Object Type: Sculpture
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions: 11 1/8 x 5 7/8 x 8 7/8 in. (28.3 x 14.9 x 22.5 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Alma de Bretteville Spreckels
Accession Number: 1950.58

Cast by Eugène Rudier (1875–1952), Paris, 1929; [1]
Sold to Alma de Bretteville Spreckels (1881–1968), San Francisco, in 1949; [2]
Gift to to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1950;
Administrative transfer to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1972.
[1] Per https://www.frenchsculpture.org/index.php/Detail/objects/25597, according to documents in the Musée Rodin, Paris, the work was commissioned on January 24, 1928, and cast by Rudier in 1929. It was paid for on May 23, 1929.
[2] Per Caso and Sanders 1977, p. 157, note 8, a list of sculptures acquired from Rudier by Spreckels in October 1949 was formerly in the collection of Jean Scott Frickelton (1898–1977), Palo Alto.
Buffalo, Albright Art Gallery, February 1937. “Master Bronzes: Selected from Museums and Collections in America,” no. 157.
San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, October 18–December 8, 1963. “Auguste Rodin,” no. 56.
Eugene, University of Oregon Museum of Art, February 2–March 14, 1965. “Dante in Art,” no. 8.
London, Hayward Gallery, November 1, 1986–January 25, 1987. “Rodin: Sculptures and Drawings,” no. 113.
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, July 4, 1981–May 2, 1982. “Rodin Rediscovered,” no. 272.
Bourgeois, Stephan, "Modern Bronzes," in Master Bronzes: Selected from Museums and Collections in America, exh. cat. (Buffalo: Albright Art Gallery, 1937), n.p., no. 157, repr.Bulletin of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor 21, nos. 5/6 (September–October 1963), no. 56.
Baldinger, Walter S., Claudia Christiansen, and John J. Baratte, eds., Dante in Art, exh. cat. (Eugene, Oregon: University of Oregon, 1965), p. 52, no. 8.
Caso, Jacques de and Patricia B. Sanders, Rodin’s Sculpture, A Critical Study of the Spreckels Collection (San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1977), pp. 168–171, no. 26.
Elsen, Albert E., Rodin Rediscovered, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1981), p. 334, no. 272.
Lampert, Catherine, Rodin: Sculptures and Drawings, exh. cat. (London: Hayward Gallery, 1986), p. 214, pl. 169, no. 113.
Le Normand–Romain, Antoinette, with the collaboration of Hélène Marraud and Diane Tytgat, The Bronzes of Rodin: Catalogue of works in the Musée Rodin, 2 vols. (Paris: Musée Rodin and Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 2007), vol. 2, p. 600.
Chapman, Martin, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin at the Legion of Honor (San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2017), pp. 74–75, pl. 19.

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