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Spotlight on “Monument to Victor Hugo”

Victor Hugo was France’s most revered and popular nineteenth century writer and poet.  He was passionately admired by the French of the Third Republic also for the position he took opposing the Second Empire and in support of the ill-fated Commune of 1879.  The public commission for a monument to Hugo was eagerly sought by Rodin and others.  It was to be placed in Paris’ Pantheon, a monumental classical building, and would bring fame and fortune to the artist whose design was chosen.  In September of 1889 Rodin won the commission.

The Cantor cast is of Rodin’s fourth study for the monument; it was submitted to the commissioners in 1895/6.  It shows the nude Victor Hugo on the rocks of Guernsey, the island where he went into self-imposed exile to escape the political turmoil of Paris and to mourn the death of his daughter.  Behind the poet, whispering in his ears, are two muses providing inspiration (when shown independently of Victor Hugo, these muses are known as Meditation and The Tragic Muse).

Rodin’s depiction of Hugo emphasizes the psychological state of a patriot in exile, of a father desperately missing his child, and of a poet searching for expression.  It is not allegorical or symbolic as previous memorials in the Academic tradition had been.  It is an important example of Rodin’s quest to revitalize public sculpture, some other examples being his earlier Burghers of Calais and the later Monument to Balzac.  The Cantor Foundation cast (1/8, Coubertin, 1996) was the last piece purchased by the Cantor Foundation before Mr. Cantor died.