Rodin

With more than 350 pictures, many never before seen, Rodin reveals, in great beauty and detail, the genius of the man known as the father of modern sculpture. The stories of Rodin's sculptures, well known for their sense of fluidity and movement, are told through each stage of development from plaster casts to the glorious end result. A world-renowned expert in Rodin's work and a former curator at the Musée Rodin, Antoinette Le Normand-Romain enjoyed unprecedented access to Rodin's archives and the museum's collection in preparing this absorbing new study of the artist's life and works. She details the evolution of Rodin's artistic vision: from the frustration of his early career - he was denied entrance to the école des Beaux Arts three times - to his first critical triumph with The Burghers of Calais to the 20 years he spent working on The Gates of Hell. Rodin also includes reproductions of the artist's numerous sketches, emphasising his ability to capture human movement in two or three strokes of the pen and translate his sketches into final pieces that highlight the unique character of his subjects through their physicality. This new perspective on Rodin's oeuvre is accompanied by photographs that capture the astonishing details of his works, often in full- and double-page spreads. The photography undertaken for the book showcases the well known - like The Kiss and The Thinker - and little seen treasures, including many of the artist's plaster models and studies. Images of works in different stages of composition, and of the same work in different versions, provide an intimate look at Rodin's artistic process. With these splendid illustrations accompanying Le Normand-Romain's insightful text, Rodin is the new authority on one of the world's greatest artists.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Rodin before Rodin 26 Childhood and Training 27 Early Career 28 I. A Clever Strategy 32 The Quest for Official Recognition 35 England and Belgium 45 Producing a Portrait of a Famous Man 50 In Paris: First Dealers, First Collectors 57 A New Social Status 60 II. The Gates of Hell and The Burghers of Calais 72 "These Places of Labor..." 74 The Gates of Hell: A Wall and a Crowd 79 The "Secrets" of Michelangelo... 95 The Burghers of Calais 111 Finishing The Gates for the Exposition Universelle of 1889 117 The Monet-Rodin Exhibition: Choosing The Burghers 120 III. Rodin in 1889 124 A Name That "Grows by the Day" 126 Ugolino and the World of Dante 128 Interweaving Sources: The Kiss 133 The Expression of the Body 137 Learning from the Masters 140 Close to Nature 142 New Modes of Creation 146 Assembling: I Am Beautiful 149 Increasing: The Three Shades 153 First Partial Figures 156 IV. Victor Hugo and Balzac: The Invention of a New Monumentality 158 Bastien-Lepage and Claude Lorrain: First Forms of Renewal 162 Victor Hugo, First Project: Rejected 167 Victor Hugo Seated, Victor Hugo Standing, and Balzac: Three Parallel Projects 1891-95 168 The Large Models, 1894-98 175 Seeking out the Essential 186 The Monuments: Belated Recognition 187 V. Plasters and Marbles 190 Building an International Reputation 192 Desire for Marble, Rejection of Carving 195 Plaster, the Preferred Means of Expression 196 From Plaster to Marble: Rodin and His Assistants 215 Symbolist Marbles 219 Informal Series 229 VI. Rodin and Modernity: The Turning Point, 1895-1900 240 From The Shade to Meditation: The Principle of Nonverbal Communication 246 The Battle with Sculpture 253 The Gates of Hell in 1900: Escaping Limits 256 A Passion for Drawing: "The Pursuit of Nature" 260 Rodin's Working Method 267 "Art Is a Form of Love" 270 Drawing and Sculpture 280 VII. Drifting Toward Symbolism in the Portrait 290 Theory of the Portrait: "The Soul Is the Great Statuary" 293 Camilles 293 Minervas 309 The Charm of Society Commissions 315 Symbols of the Symbolic 328 VIII. Antiquity and Nature: Timeless Beauty 336 An Artist at the Height of His Fame 339 Collections and Collectors 340 Rodin at the Metropolitan Museum of Art 344 A Passion for Antiquity 347 The Walking Man: Gesture and Movement 348 Partial Figures, Pure Beauty 352 "Tumultuous Plasters...Survivors of a Great Cataclysm" 368 Time of the Cathedrals 370 Cambodian Women and Dance Movements: "Shapeshifting in a Genre Varying Between Greek and Japanese 380 The Antique and Nature: The Same Mystery 385 Conclusion: Rodin's Fame 386 The Final Years 387 The Donation 387 After 1917: The Musee Rodin's Policy 388 Polemic in the United States 391 Repercussions 392 Appendices Chronology 397 Notes 402 Bibliography 415 Index of Names of People 419 Index of Works 425 Photographic Credits 429 Acknowledgements 431