August Rodin was one of the foremost sculptors of the modern age, influencing every sculptor who came after him. This handsome book by Catherine Lampert offers new insights into the creative processes of this great French artist.
This exceptional publication includes nearly 200 works, the majority of which come from the Musée Rodin in Paris. Well-produced and meticulously documented, the catalogue entries are further illuminated by scores of photographs of Rodin's celebrated sculptures (including such masterworks as the "Balzac" -- in Steichen's celebrated photograph -- the headless "Striding Man", and the disturbingly powerful "Gates of Hell") of the sculptor himself throughout his career, and many of the important personalities with whom he was intimate, such as Rainer Maria Rilke, and Count Harry Kessler. Of special interest are comparative photographs of the actual structures that accompany the famous drawings of the French cathedrals. The catalogue entries of impeccable scholarship are here interwoven with the illustrations to create a stimulating biography of a master sculptor and an unique human being. -- From publisher's description.
In an intimate talk with his protégé, the great sculptor offers candid, wide-ranging comments on a diverse range of topics: the meaning of art; other famed artists; the relationship of sculpture to poetry, painting, and music; his philosophy of life; and much more. Seventy-six black-and-white illustrations of Rodin's sculptures, drawings, and prints are included.
The drawings and cutouts reproduced in this volume, including the notorious Weimar drawings, are brought together here for the forst time from museums and private collections all over the world; previous publications have only included those held by the Musée Rodin in Paris. Anne-Marie Bonnet describes in her introductory essay the conditions in which these intimate masterpieces were created, and finds in them surprising affinities with the work of twentieth-century avant-garde artists, notably Duchamp and Yves Klein. With 107 colour illustrations.
The late Albert Elsen was the first American scholar to study seriously the work of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin, and the person most responsible for a revival of interest in the artist as a modern innovator--after years during which the sculpture had been dismissed as so much Victorian bathos. After a fortuitous meeting with the financier, philanthropist, and art collector B. Gerald Cantor, Elsen helped Cantor to build up a major collection of Rodin's work. A large part of this collection, consisting of more than 200 pieces, was donated to the Stanford Museum by Mr. Cantor, who died recently. In size it is surpassed only the by the Musée Rodin in Paris and rivaled only by the collection in Philadelphia. In scope the collection is unique in having been carefully selected to present a balanced view of Rodin's work throughout his life. Rodin's Art encompasses a lifetime's thoughts on Rodin's career, surveying the artist's accomplishments through the detailed discussion of each object in the collection. It will begin with essays on the formation of the collection, the reception of Rodin's work, and his casting techniques. The entries that follow are arranged topically and include extensive discussions of Rodin's major projects.