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The Shade
1969
This monumental bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin depicts a powerful nude male figure hunched forward with head bowed and arms hanging heavily, conveying a profound sense of weight, grief, and submission. Originally modeled around 1880, this cast dates to 1969 and is one of three identical figures that Rodin grouped together to form The Three Shades atop The Gates of Hell. The work exemplifies Rodin's mastery of surface texture and psychological intensity, capturing the human form in a state of spiritual anguish. Photographed outdoors in front of the David Geffen Galleries, the sculpture is displayed on a concrete plinth amid a landscaped setting.
- Medium
- Bronze
Notes
Modeled c. 1880; this cast 1969. Museum accession number: M.73.108.1. Gift of B. Gerald Cantor Art Foundation. The Shade is one of three identical figures used by Rodin in The Three Shades, originally created as part of The Gates of Hell. Photographed at the David Geffen Galleries building, LACMA campus, Fairfax, Los Angeles.
Spotted works by Auguste Rodin
Artists in conversation
Émile-Antoine Bourdelle
French · b. 1861
Bourdelle was a direct student of Rodin who shared his master's approach to expressive bronze figuration, creating monumental male nudes with deeply textured surfaces and intense psychological weight conveying grief and existential burden.
Aristide Maillol
French · b. 1861
Maillol created large scale bronze nudes with similarly powerful hunched and weighted poses, focusing on the raw emotional and physical gravity of the human form cast in richly worked bronze surfaces.
Georg Kolbe
German · b. 1877
Kolbe produced expressive bronze nude figures in submissive and bowed postures that echo Rodin's psychological intensity, capturing themes of sorrow and human vulnerability through deeply modeled surface texture and dramatic corporeal weight.
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