Conceived in 1901, there is only one lifetime cast
of The Athlete known and that was sent to the sitter
and is now in the collection of the Philadelphia
Museum. Between 1927 and 1950 another 10 casts
were made. This example dates from 1927 and is the earliest cast to ever appear on the market.
Samuel Stockton White III
(1876-1952), was from Germantown
Pennsylvania. He trained
extensively as a gymnast at
Princeton University and
then went on to study at Cambridge. White gave
the following account of his meeting with Rodin
in a letter to Mrs Margery Mason, dated 25th May
1949: “I posed for him in 1901 and 1904 for the
statuette which he called The Athlete [...] how I
came to pose for him is rather interesting; while attending
Cambridge University in England, I joined
Sandow’s Academy in London. During this period,
I was spending some time in Paris and a friend
of mine suggested that I offer myself as a model
to Rodin; the idea interested me and I paid a visit
to Rodin who complimented me on my development
and accepted me as a model. After trying
me in several standing poses, he suggested that
I take a pose of my own, which I did seated the
pose being somewhat similar to The Thinker.”
Provenance
Musee Rodin, Paris
Auction Sale,12 decembre 1935:
Private Collection
