Two Hands

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

For Rodin hands have both an expressive and a symbolic value: they embody the gesture. Separated from the body, they become studies or mass-produced "offal" and occasionally acquire monumental value. "In Rodin's work", said Rilke, "there are hands - independent, small hands, which although they do not belong to a body, are living. (...) Hands that walk or sleep and hands that wake up..." These are always autonomous works which, although only fragments, have astonishing expressive power.

These "body fragments" are complete in themselves and possess their own meaning. Rodin never thought twice about presenting or repeating forms in a new and original composition, as in the assemblage presented here which unites two hands in the same gesture. Rilke described perfectly this way of working by assemblage, where Rodin "begins with the places where the contact is closest, as the culminating points of the work; he begins his work where something new is happening and devotes all the skill of his instrument to the mysterious visions that accompany the birth of a new thing".

Each reproduction requires great expertise   and draws on the skills of the Rodin Museum's teams and craftsmen. It is from the official moulds from the museum's collections that the most accurate resin reproductions are made. They are then hand-patinated to give it the appearance of bronze, plaster or marble.

Finally, they are validated and checked by the Musée Rodin’s curators to ensure that they comply with moral rights.

Reproductions come with an explanatory note about the history of the work.

The seal and the mention “Reproduction - Musée Rodin” guarantee the quality and origin of the sculpture reproduction.