The Young Convalescent (The Farewell)
Artist
Auguste Rodin
(French, 1840-1917)
CultureFrench
Dateca. 1906-07
MediumMarble
Dimensions18 x 20 x 16 in. (45.7 x 50.8 x 40.6 cm)
InscribedSigned.
Credit LineGift of the family of Max J. Sulzberger
Object number77.447
Collections
On View
On viewLabel TextAuguste Rodin French, 1840–1917 The Young Convalescent (The Farewell), ca. 1906–07 Marble Is this young girl emerging from a rough block of marble, or is the marble engulfing her? Auguste Rodin described his subject as a girl confined to a sickbed who blows kisses to her visitors: “She speaks little, but thanks those who come to see her. She sends white marble kisses.” The sentiment is sweet, but the work itself remains a bit uneasy. Scholars believe the subject’s features are those of Rodin’s model and lover, Camille Claudel, as she looked in the 1880s. By the time Rodin carved this work, however, she had succumbed to the mental illness that plagued the last decades of her life. Gift of the Family of Max J. Sulzberger 77.447 ProvenanceMax J. Sulzberger, New York, Ny., October 1913--1935; Family of Max J. Sulzberger, 1935-1960; Gift of Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, November 1960; Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, 1960-1971; Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., April 1971. Exhibition History"Rodin: Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection," North Carolina Museum of Art, April 16 - Aug. 13, 2000. "Camille Claudel and Rodin: Fateful Encounter," Musée national des beaux-arts du Quebec, Canada, May 26 - September 11, 2005; The Detroit Institute of Arts, MI., October 2, 2005 - February 5, 2006. "Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum," North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, April 9, 2013 - February 2, 2014.Published ReferencesWalter P. Chrysler, Jr. and staff, "L'Adieu," _The Chrysler Art Museum Bulletin_ 1 (August 1961): cover. Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, _Camille Claudel & Rodin: Time Will Heal Everything_, exh. cat., Paris, France, Musée Rodin, 2003, no. 19, pull out brochure. Yves Lacasse and Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, _Camille Claudel & Rodin: Fateful Encounter_, exh. cat., Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Quebec, 2005, 222, 365.
