Rodin’s New York Connections

A standing nude male, without head and arms. His legs are set far apart as though he is mid-stride.

L’Homme qui Marche (The Walking Man) (small model). 1899 (model). Bronze. Musée Rodin: S.00495. Checklist no. 62.

Joseph and Imre Brummer

Rodin’s influence on modern sculpture reached far beyond Paris, extending into New York’s cultural life in the early twentieth century. One of the most important conduits for this transatlantic exchange was directed by the Hungarian-born dealer Joseph Brummer (1883–1947) and his brothers Imre Brummer (1889–1928) and Emre Brummer (1891–1964), whose gallery on East 57th Street became a hub for European modernism and antiquities in the United States.

Joseph Brummer’s connection with Rodin began in Paris in 1907, when he assisted the sculptor while studying at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, earning his degree in 1909. At the time, Joseph had established the family’s gallery on boulevard Raspail, which despite its modest scale, offered an astonishing variety of objects: Greek statuettes, Egyptian artifacts, Japanese woodcuts, and more. Among the gallery’s earliest and most distinguished clients was Rodin. The Brummer Gallery sale ledgers from 1909–14 reveal that Rodin acquired around twenty works from Joseph during this early period.

Two men stand in front of a store with a sign above the entrance that reads “Antiquities.” They are surrounded by framed pictures and empty frames.

Anonymous. Imre Brummer and Joseph Altounian in front of Brummer’s shop, 67 boulevard Raspail, Paris. n.d. Photograph. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: BGRLaszlo-01-003-01.

Receipt of Rodin’s purchase of antiquity objects from the Brummer Gallery in 1912. Musée Rodin: BRU.975_JM012.

Receipt of Rodin’s purchase of antiquity objects from the Brummer Gallery in 1912. Musée Rodin: BRU.975_JM012.

By the 1910s, Joseph Brummer had become a trusted figure in Paris’s collecting circles, selling works by emerging modernist artists as well as antiquities. When he relocated to New York at the advent of World War I in 1914, he strategically highlighted his association with Rodin in US press coverage, positioning himself as a bridge between European modernism and American collectors. This association with Rodin culminated in Brummer’s organization of a significant exhibition of the sculptor’s work.

The facade of a neoclassical building with the name “Brummer” above a window display with two chairs and a relief sculpture in a circular frame.

Anonymous. Brummer Gallery, 27 E. 57th St. (later renumbered to 53 E. 57th), New York. Entrance, 1925-12-09. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: BGRLaszlo-02-010a-003.

Numerous sculptures of figures and sculptural fragments are displayed on pedestals and other supports.

Anonymous. Brummer Gallery, E. 57th Street (formerly 27 E. 57th). Interior view, 1927-01-13. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

From December 15, 1922, to January 13, 1923, the Brummer Gallery held an Exhibition of Sculptures and Drawings by Auguste Rodin at 53 East 57th Street, New York. This exhibition was the first significant presentation of Rodin’s work in New York after his death in 1917, and featured a carefully curated selection of sculptures, drawings, and studies. The accompanying exhibition catalogue, with a preface by Joseph Brummer, positioned Rodin as both a modern innovator and an heir to classical traditions, aligning him with the gallery’s own identity as a mediator between antiquity and modernism. Between January 31 and March 8, 1923, the same exhibition was on view at the Arts Club of Chicago, further extending Rodin’s reach to US audiences.

A piece of paper with type identifying the exhibition and handwritten text indicating changes to be made for the exhibition in Chicago.

Catalogue of the Exhibition of Sculptures and Drawings by Auguste Rodin, Brummer Gallery, New York, December 15, 1922–January 13th, 1923. Newberry Library Open Access.

A piece of paper with type identifying the exhibition and a photograph of a sculpted male head identified as one of the Burghers of Calais.

Catalogue of the Exhibition of Original Sculpture and Drawings by Auguste Rodin, Art Institute of Chicago, January 31–March 8, 1923. The Art Institute of Chicago.

Reception of Rodin in the United States and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rodin’s entry into the New York art world occurred during a period of intense transatlantic exchange in the early twentieth century. His avant-garde sculptures were increasingly admired by the American elite, who sought to add the sculptor’s works to their own art collections.

The arrival of Rodin’s works in the United States was tentative at first, yet over time the nation embraced him, making his works central to debates about modern art, public taste, and cultural prestige. His debut on US soil came in 1876, when eight sculptures were sent to Philadelphia’s Centennial Exposition in Fairmount Park. One key catalyst for Rodin’s institutional reception in the US was Jules E. Mastbaum’s founding of the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia. With its Beaux-Arts building, garden, and setting along Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the museum opened on November 29, 1929. It became one of the greatest single collections of Rodin outside Paris, and a model of how public display could shape the reception of modern sculpture.

Rodin’s The Thinker is atop a pedestal in front of a building with a columned, gated entrance. On each side of the entrance, a sculpture is set within an arched niche.

Anonymous. Exterior of the Rodin Museum showing the Meudon Gate, ca. 1930. Photograph. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library & Archives, Rodin Museum Records.

Meanwhile, in New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art played a crucial role in cementing Rodin’s status among US museums. In 1906, the Museum’s Sculpture Committee, chaired by the sculptor Daniel Chester French, identified Rodin as the preeminent living sculptor and pressed for his representation in the collection. That same year, the financier and philanthropist Thomas Fortune Ryan, who had developed ties with Rodin in Paris, donated several works to the Met. Among these were bronzes and marbles that revealed the artist’s radical rethinking of the human form—his interest in partial figures, fragmented bodies, and textured surfaces that seemed to vibrate with life. These acquisitions marked the beginning of a sustained commitment to Rodin at the Met and gave New York audiences their first extended encounter with the artist’s unconventional vision.

A nude male statue on a pedestal stands with its weight on the left foot, with the right knee bent and the right foot slightly forward and heel raised. Both arms are upraised and bent at the elbow.

The Age of Bronze at the base of the Grand Staircases and near the entrance to the Rodin gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1912. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In 1912, the Met established what became known as the “Little Rodin Gallery,” the museum’s first space devoted exclusively to a living artist. Over thirty of Rodin’s sculptures and several drawings were exhibited in a corridor off the Grand Hall. This show was widely covered in the press, marking Rodin’s arrival into the mainstream American art world.

A long room is lined with paintings and sculptures along the walls. Two bronze sculptures of standing figures are on pedestals in the center of the room.

The B. Gerald Cantor Sculpture Gallery, including Rodin’s works, photographed 1993. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Met’s 1918 memorial exhibition of Rodin, organized in cooperation with French authorities shortly after the artist’s death, introduced New York audiences to the full range of Rodin’s practice, including expressive fragments, preparatory studies, and monumental bronzes. The memorial provided US audiences with an unprecedented overview of his career and secured his place within the canon of modern art. For the Met, it reinforced the institution’s commitment to presenting Rodin not simply as a contemporary figure but as a master worthy of historical recognition.

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