Adam by Rodin at Billy Rose, sculpter garden, in 1972

Rodin´s Adam seems to be pointing to the bronze statue of Balzac, which was stolen in 1911 during the renovation of the Museum
When Honoré de Balzac died, the city fathers commissioned a great bronze statue of the realist Balzac. Balzac was renowned for his larger-than-life personality and for his exuberant personal life. The commissioners of the sculpture found an equally over-the-top realist sculptor to make the statue, Auguste Rodin. Rodin tracked down every daguerreotype and drawing of Balzac. He interviewed Balzac’s mistresses and intimates and went to Balzac’s tailor for exact measurements. He took casts from Balzac’s death mask and did everything but exhume his corpse . Then Rodin made a brash sculpture of the great novelist standing nude, with his legs apart and his arms crossed, brooding upon the human comedy.