The Clenched Left Hand (Study for Hand of Pierre de Wiessant)

Auguste Rodin|Georges Rudier

modeled ca. 1885, cast 1974 · Bronze · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

To Rodin, hands communicated as forcefully as the human face. His independent sculptures of hands are portraits of emotions. This emphatically modeled, dramatically gesturing hand—that both seeks and draws away, that clenches but cannot grasp—is one of Rodin’s most compelling depictions of powerless despair.

Artist

Auguste Rodin|Georges Rudier

Date

modeled ca. 1885, cast 1974

Medium

Bronze

Culture

French

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, 1984