Two Hands - Auguste Rodin

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

For Rodin hands have both an expressive and a symbolic value: they embody the gesture. Separated from the body, they become studies or mass-produced "offal" and occasionally acquire monumental value. "In Rodin's work", said Rilke, "there are hands - independent, small hands...

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

For Rodin hands have both an expressive and a symbolic value: they embody the gesture. Separated from the body, they become studies or mass-produced "offal" and occasionally acquire monumental value. "In Rodin's work", said Rilke, "there are hands - independent, small hands, which although they do not belong to a body, are living. (...) Hands that walk or sleep and hands that wake up..." These are always autonomous works which, although only fragments, have astonishing expressive power.

These "body fragments" are complete in themselves and possess their own meaning. Rodin never thought twice about presenting or repeating forms in a new and original composition, as in the assemblage presented here which unites two hands in the same gesture. Rilke described perfectly this way of working by assemblage, where Rodin "begins with the places where the contact is closest, as the culminating points of the work; he begins his work where something new is happening and devotes all the skill of his instrument to the mysterious visions that accompany the birth of a new thing".

Cast in the same size as the originals
These reproductions are accompanied by a history of the work.

The symbol and description "Reproduction - musée Rodin" guarantee the authenticity of the sculpture reproduction.

Edited by: Musée Rodin
Dimension: H. 9 ; W. 6 ; D. 4 cm
Material: resin with bronze patina
© Rodin Museum - Paris