Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was a dominate figure in the world of sculpture throughout his career, although his influence reaches far beyond his years and continues today. The importance of Rodin's work cannot be overstated. Indeed, with its vitality and animation his pieces are considered to have shaped the future of sculpture and defined the modern age. Rodin's figures were inspired by classical Greek and Renaissance art, albeit he pared back narrative references to classical gods and muses by sculpting naturalistic figures whose forms reflected distinctly modern representations of love, thought and physicality. Rodin was also deeply influenced by the literary works of the Italian poet, writer, and philosopher Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), whose epic poem the Divine Comedy (c. 1320) gave rise to some of Rodin's most famous creations - The Kiss (1882); The Thinker (1904); and The Gates of Hell (c. 1880-1917).

His monumental masterpiece The Gates of Hell, for instance, comprised over two hundred and twenty five figures and groups modelled as players for this arresting construction. The Gates of Hell were initially commissioned for the new Museum of Design in Paris, but even after the plans were abandoned Rodin continued to develop figures piecemeal over a period of thirty-seven years. The artist would never see the work completed in bronze, with the process finished posthumously, but the figures Rodin formed for his gates were a vital source of inspiration for the rest of his career.

Rodin’s contemporary success did not come without controversy. One figure, in particular, scandalised the art world, with some critics suspicious of Rodin’s methods because his breakout piece was so lifelike. The Age of Bronze (1876) depicted a moment of awakening – to suffering or to joy – and was sculpted over the course of eighteen months. However, Rodin faced accusations of fraud and he was left with little choice but to vigorously deny the charges of casting from a living model, which he was only able to disprove due to the photographic records he kept from his work in the studio. Such questions of authenticity, naturally, are testament to what has been described as Rodin’s sublime talent.

Likewise, The Kiss, which was originally conceived as part of The Gates of Hell but was later completed as an independent piece, faced considerable critical censure. For conservative critics, Rodin’s entwined lovers were viewed as problematic because they were seen to depict uncontrolled carnal desire, illicit in its nature and explicit in sexual infatuation – based as it was on the characters of Paulo and Francesca from the Divine Comedy, who were punished for their transgressions and doomed to wander eternally through the corridors of Hell. The sculpture was censored on several ocassions in exhibitions, which included secluding it for viewing in a separate room and, in one instance, excluding it from view altogether. In contrast to his detractors, Rodin understood The Kiss to represent the height of happiness and sensuality, and its status today as a cultural icon is such that it remains one of his most recognised and reproduced sculptures alongside The Thinker. Despite such early critical disapproval, Rodin achieved a level of fame and international popularity that was unprecedented for a sculptor.

The Musée Rodin summarised his achievements and contributions to art and sculpture when they observed that

'his genius was to express inner truths of the human psyche, and his gaze penetrated beneath the external appearance of the world. Exploring this realm beneath the surface, Rodin developed an agile technique for rendering the extreme physical states that correspond to expressions of inner turmoil or overwhelming joy. He sculpted a universe of great passion and tragedy, a world of imagination that exceeded the mundane reality of everyday existence'.

Mask of a Woman with a 1880s Hairstyle (c.1910-1926) was created by Rodin during a period of his life when he was facing adversity and could not afford professional sitters. Rodin would instead use friends or family members, so although the identity of this model is unknown it could be presumed that she had a personal relationship with the sculptor. It has been suggested that the ‘work has often been confused with the portrait of Marie Bengesco, Rodin’s Romanian friend, whose features were more austere and whose neck was longer.’ There is also speculation that this woman is Camille Claudel, one of Rodin’s studio assistants, a talented sculptor in her own right, and later his mistress.

The sculpture is unusual because of the line which traces around the face giving it a mask-like appearance. However the hair is perhaps the most prominent feature of this bust, cascading down her face. The model’s hair is very typical of the 1880s where the style has moved from long curled hair which framed the face in the 1860s and 70s to a more formal hairstyle, which was still meticulously curled although was pinned on top of the head rather than being left loose to frame the face.

The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the Comité Auguste Rodin, certificate available

Catalogue no. 2009-2783B (Jerome Le Blay).

Other casts are held in The Musee Rodin, Paris; The Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, and Museo Soumaya, Mexico.