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Pair of Standing Nude Male Figures Demonstrating the Principles of Contrapposto according to Michelangelo and Phidias

ca. 1911
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 800
Rodin modeled these clay sketches as demonstrations of contrapposto—a fundamental pose in which the body responds to bearing its weight on a single leg. Each figure stands in a manner typical of works by the famous sculptor after whom it is named. The version after the ancient Phidias captures the calm physical ease characteristic of classical sculpture. The Michelangelo figure, slumped and twisted inward, expresses the psychological intensity resulting from a more contorted Renaissance contrapposto. In 1911 Rodin presented these sketches to the American sculptor and philanthropist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Later, the works belonged to the greatest late twentieth-century collectors of Rodin’s sculpture, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Pair of Standing Nude Male Figures Demonstrating the Principles of Contrapposto according to Michelangelo and Phidias
  • Artist: Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon)
  • Date: ca. 1911
  • Culture: French
  • Medium: Terracotta
  • Dimensions: Height (.1, wt. confirmed): 14 1/2 in., 6.6 lb. (36.8 cm, 3 kg)
    Height (.2, wt. confirmed): 14 1/2 in., 5.2 lb. (36.8 cm, 2.4 kg)
  • Classification: Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Gift of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, 1987
  • Object Number: 1987.179.1, .2
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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