Nude statue, seen from behind
Medium
Woodcut printed in black and gray
Dimensions
Plate: 7 1/16 × 3 5/8 in. (18 × 9.2 cm) Sheet: 11 7/16 × 8 1/8 in. (29 × 20.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Paul L. Rittenhouse,1959
Accession Number
59.580.3
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the early 20th century, sculptor Auguste Rodin, renowned for his emotionally charged bronze figures like *The Thinker*, inspired a woodcut titled *Nude Statue, Seen from Behind*. Created around 1902 by printmaker Auguste-Louis Lepère this intimate print captures the back view of one of Rodin's dynamic nude sculptures. Lepère, a master of the woodcut medium, translates the sculptor's tactile forms into stark black-and-gray tones, emphasizing the curve of the spine, the swell of muscles, and the statue's poised contrapposto stance. Woodcuts, carved into wooden blocks and relief-printed, were...
About the Artist
Auguste Rodin|Auguste-Louis Lepère · 1840–1917
François Auguste René Rodin (1840-1917) stands as the founder of modern sculpture, transforming the art form from academic tradition into expressive modernism. Born into a working-class Parisian family, Rodin faced early rejection, failing three times to gain admission to the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts. This setback forced him to work as a craftsman for nearly two decades, though his 1875 tr...