Torso d'Adèle

One of the most celebrated and sensuous of Rodin's fragmentary female figures, the Torso d'Adèle takes its name from the presumed model, Adèle Abruzzesi. The composition was first conceived between 1878 and 1884 and belongs to the fertile period during which Rodin was developing figures for his great unfinished masterpiece, The Gates of Hell. In modified form the torso appears among the swirling assemblage of bodies in the upper left portion of that monumental project, while the model subsequently served as the basis for other works, most notably L'Éternel Printemps (Eternal Springtime) of 1884.

The sculpture exemplifies Rodin's revolutionary approach to the fragment as a complete artistic statement. Rather than presenting the body as an academic ideal, Rodin concentrated on the expressive power of movement, contour, and surface. The dramatically arched pose, swelling forms, and subtle modelling of the flesh create a striking interplay of tension and sensuality, while the deliberate truncation of the figure directs the viewer's attention to the rhythm of the torso itself.

The present cast is particularly successful in preserving the vitality of Rodin's modelling, the warm brown patina accentuating the play of light across the sculpture's richly varied surfaces. A handsome and decorative posthumous cast of one of Rodin's most lyrical and enduring compositions.