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Modeled 1863-1864; cast 1925

Mask of the Man with the Broken Nose

Auguste Rodin

French, 1840 - 1917

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Breaking with conventional notions of beauty, Rodin chose his model—a local workman named Bibi—for his clear-cut facial features and broken nose. The sculptor defended the roughness of this work as artistic beauty, investing the features with a dignity reminiscent of classical sculpture. Rodin considered Mask of the Man with the Broken Nose his first good piece of modeling and said it “determined all my future work.”

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Auguste Rodin, Mask of the Man with the Broken Nose, Modeled 1863-1864; cast 1925 | Philadelphia Museum of Art