The Rodin Museum and its collection were given to the City of Philadelphia by Jules E. Mastbaum, a leading figure in the motion-picture industry, head of the Stanley Company of America, and one of Philadelphia’s best-known philanthropists. Mastbaum began to pursue an interest in collecting art in 1922; the following year, on a visit to Paris, he bought a small bronze by Auguste Rodin that so fired his enthusiasm for the artist that he conceived the idea of establishing a Rodin museum in Philadelphia. Mastbaum began to purchase bronzes directly from the Musée Rodin in 1924, and by 1926 he had acquired most of the works in the collection. Some were duplicates of works that had already been cast during Rodin’s lifetime; others were cast especially for him. Feeling that his museum ought to give as complete a view as possible of Rodin, Mastbaum also purchased drawings, prints, letters, books, and variety of documentary material.The Rodin Museum officially opened to the public in 1929, located alongside the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
This handbook to the museum’s collection is an abridgment of a full-scale catalogue of the collection published in 1976. It includes an essay on Rodin as a sculptor, a timeline of the major events in the artist’s life, and short entries on the works in the museum’s collection.