Rodin, Egypt, and the Return of First Obsessions

Le Désespoir (Despair), bronze, ca. 1893 (model),
1942 (sand casting by Alexis Rudier), Auguste Rodin

At the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, tucked quietly at 15 East 84th Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues, two of my enduring boyhood fascinations converged at last: the sculpture of Rodin and Egyptology. What once lived separately stood here in dialogue, as if they had been waiting for one another.

Le Désespoir (Despair)

Rodin’s encounter with Egypt was not scholarly in method but instinctive in approach. He absorbed the ancient world through figures—pharaohs, gods, and fragments—stripped of gesture yet charged with authority. In these works, the human body becomes less expressive and more eternal.

Moving through the exhibition, I was reminded why certain sculptors have always remained close to me. Gemito, Messina, and Cataldi share, with Rodin, an understanding ultimately inherited from Egypt: that stillness can carry more force than motion.

Rodin’s Egypt restores a lineage. It reveals modern sculpture not as a break from the past, but as a return to first principles—weight, proportion, and permanence.

The exhibition, free and open to the public, will run until March 15, 2026. Free tours will be given every Friday from 6–7 pm, and on Saturdays from 11–11:45 am.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, February 9th, Feasts of San Sabino Vescovo, San Corrado di Molfetta, and Sant’Apollonia di Alessandria

Le Désespoir (Despair), bronze, ca. 1893 (model),
1942 (sand casting by Alexis Rudier), Auguste Rodin

La Pensée (Thought), plaster, 1893-1895, Auguste Rodin

Head from a statue of a man, pink granite, 664-30
BC, Egypt, Late Period-Ptolemaic Period

(L) Statuette of a cloaked man, yellow limestone, ca. 1850 BC, Egypt, Middle Kingdom. (R) Naophorous (shrine) statue of Ra-Horakhty, painted
limestone, 1550-332 BC, Egypt, New Kingdom-Late Period

(L) Votive statuette of Osiris, copper alloy, 1550-1069 BC, Egypt, New Kingdom. (R) Votive statuette of Sekhmet, copper alloy, 332-30 BC, Egypt, Ptolemaic Period

(L) Votive statuette of Neith, copper alloy, 664-332 BC, Egypt, Late Period. (R) Votive statuette of Amon-Ra-Montu inscribed with the name of the Nubian Princess Shepenupet II, copper alloy, 700-640 BC, Egypt, possibly Thebes, Third Intermediate-Late Period

(L) Striding statue of a snake goddess, limestone, 332-30 BC, Egypt, Ptolemaic Period. (R) Psyche-Pomona, marble, ca. 1886 (model); 1904-6 (carved by Louis-Dominique Mathet), Auguste Rodin

(L) L'Homme qui Marche (The Walking Man) (small model) Bronze, ca. 1899 (model), 1964 (casting by Georges Rudier, Auguste Rodin. (R) Le Succube (The Succubus), bronze, 1888 (model); ca. 1890 (sand casting by Griffoul and Lorge), Auguste Rodin

Les Damnées (Damned Women), plaster, after 1900, Auguste Rodin

False door of Lady Roudjet, limestone, 2575-2323 BC, Egypt, Old Kingdom

Relief with ritual scene of King Ramses I, painted
limestone, 1295-1186 BC, Egypt, New Kingdom

Sculptor's model of a sphinx, silicified pink sandstone,
332 BCE-395 AD, Egypt, Ptolemaic-Roman Period

(L) Naos stela with Pa inmu and his father It, son of Pedise, basalt, 664-610 BC, Egypt, Memphite Region, Saqgara, Late Period. (R) Balzac: Final Study, plaster, 1897, Auguste Rodin; and Striding statue of a priest, gray granite, 332 BC-640 AD, Egypt, Ptolemaic Period-Roman Period

(L) La Nuit (Night): Assemblage of two proofs, plaster, 1894, Auguste Rodin. (R) Torse de Jeune Femme Cambré (Torso of a Young Woman with Arched Back) (large model) Plaster, 1909, Auguste Rodin

Sculptor's model with images of a king, ebony (mount), ca. 1915, limestone (relief), 1550-30 BC, Egypt, New Kingdom-Ptolemaic Period

(L) Statuette of Thoth as a baboon, faience, 1550-30 BC, Egypt, New Kingdom-Ptolemaic Period. (R) Head from votive statuette of Thoth as an ibis, copper alloy, 1550-664 BC, Egypt, New Kingdom-Third Intermediate Period

(L) Votive statuette of Bastet as a cat, copper alloy, 664-30 BC, Egypt, Late Period-Ptolemaic Period. (R) Votive statuette and reliquary of Bastet as a cat, copper alloy, 664-30 BC, Egypt, Late Period-Ptolemaic Period

(L) Funerary mask of a boy, polychrome stucco and glass, 100-150 AD, Egypt, Roman Period. (R) Funerary mask of a woman, polychrome stucco and glass, 100-150 AD, Egypt, Roman Period

Balzac: Last study for the head, bronze, 1897 (model); 1963 (sand casting by Georges Rudier). Balzac: Head with a clear forehead and a cleft chin, called H head, stamped terracotta, 1894, Auguste Rodin

Balzac: Last study for the head, bronze, 1897 (model);
1963 (sand casting by Georges Rudier), Auguste Rodin

Balzac: Head with a clear forehead and a cleft chin,
called H head, stamped terracotta, 1894, Auguste Rodin