The Rodin Museum's bronzes are not even "the originals", which makes this whole thing amusing.
The originals created by Rodin were clay models, from which plaster molds were made. Those were used to cast bronzes. Not just one bronze copy, many copies. There are at least 23 copies of "The Thinker" cast during Rodin's lifetime, and even more later copies.[1]
In the SF Bay Area, the Palace of the Legion of Honor has one. One of the point clouds shown is of Rodin's "Gates of Hell", and a copy of that can be seen outside the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford, which has a small garden of Rodin bronzes. So if you really need a 3D scan, there are lots of bronzes available to scan.
What scares the Rodin Museum is that they are still selling reproductions.[2] Resin copies are available through the gift shop, and bronze copies can be ordered. They have a complicated argument about "moral rights" to justify their monopoly which is marginal at this late date. (Rodin died in 1917.)
Speaking of Rodin bronzes, if you ever get a chance, check out the Auguste Rodin Gallery at the Maryhill Museum of Art [0]. The museum is located in a beautiful setting on the sides of the Columbia River Gorge in Washington state basically in the middle of nowhere. If the weather is nice, the views of Mount Hood in Oregon are fabulous. The bronze casting process is explained and demonstrated in the gallery. As I recall, there are more than ten steps involving negative and positive impressions before you get to the final work of art. How this fabulous art collection ended up in such a remote location is also an interesting story.
> "...if you ever get a chance, check out the Auguste Rodin Gallery at the Maryhill Museum of Art"
I wholeheartedly concur. Just a few hours up the Gorge from Portland/Vancouver, Maryhill is a great place to take visitors up for it.
If memory serves, the Rodin exhibit has original plaster casts signed by Rodin and dozens of other works. In addition, the vast museum contains the huge and fascinating collections of its founders.
Nearby is the Stonehenge replica constructed to match the original as closely as possible. Definitely worth visiting.
Animats · · focus · HN ↗
The originals created by Rodin were clay models, from which plaster molds were made. Those were used to cast bronzes. Not just one bronze copy, many copies. There are at least 23 copies of "The Thinker" cast during Rodin's lifetime, and even more later copies.[1]
In the SF Bay Area, the Palace of the Legion of Honor has one. One of the point clouds shown is of Rodin's "Gates of Hell", and a copy of that can be seen outside the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford, which has a small garden of Rodin bronzes. So if you really need a 3D scan, there are lots of bronzes available to scan.
What scares the Rodin Museum is that they are still selling reproductions.[2] Resin copies are available through the gift shop, and bronze copies can be ordered. They have a complicated argument about "moral rights" to justify their monopoly which is marginal at this late date. (Rodin died in 1917.)
[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Thinker_sculptures" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Thinker_sculptures
[2] <a href="https://boutique.musee-rodin.fr/en/10-sculpture-reproductions" rel="nofollow">https://boutique.musee-rodin.fr/en/10-sculpture-reproduction...
julienchastang · · focus · HN ↗
[0] <a href="https://www.maryhillmuseum.org/" rel="nofollow">https://www.maryhillmuseum.org/
jrapdx3 · · focus · HN ↗
I wholeheartedly concur. Just a few hours up the Gorge from Portland/Vancouver, Maryhill is a great place to take visitors up for it.
If memory serves, the Rodin exhibit has original plaster casts signed by Rodin and dozens of other works. In addition, the vast museum contains the huge and fascinating collections of its founders.
Nearby is the Stonehenge replica constructed to match the original as closely as possible. Definitely worth visiting.