Rodin: The Man and His Art, with Leaves from His Note-book

Rodin: The Man and His Art, with Leaves from His Note-book

Of Auguste Rodin one thing may be said without fear of contradiction: among his contemporaries to-day he is preminently the master. Born at Paris, 1840,the natal year of his friends, Claude Monet and Zolain humble circumstances, without a liberal education, the young Rodin had to fight from the beginning; fight for bread as well as an art schooling. He was not even sure of his vocation. An accident determined it. He became a workman in the atelier of the sculptor, Carrier-Belleuse, though not until he had failed at the Beaux-Arts (a stroke of luck for his genius), and after he had enjoyed some tentative instruction under the animal sculptor, Barye (he was not a steady pupil of Barye, nor did he care to remain with him) he went to Belgium and "ghosted" for other sculptors; it was his privilege or misfortune to have been the anonymous assistant of a half dozen sculptors. He mastered the technique of his art by the sweat of his brow before he began to make music upon his own instrument. How his first work, "The Man with the Broken Nose," was refused by the Salon jury is history. He designed for the Svres porcelain works. He executed portrait busts, architectural ornaments, caryatids; all styles that were huddled in the studios and yards of sculptors he essayed. No man knew his trade better, although it is said that with the chisel of the practicien Rodin was never proficient; he could not, or would not, work at the marble en bloc. His sculptures to-day are in the museums of the world, and he is admitted to possess "talent" by academic men. Rivals he has none. His production is too personal. Like Richard Wagner he has proved a upas tree for lesser artistshe has deflected, or else absorbed them. His friend Eugene Carrire warned young sculptors not to study Rodin too curiously. Carrire was wise, yet his art of portraiture was influenced by Rodin; swimming in shadow his enigmatic heads have more the quality of Rodin's than the mortuary art of academic sculpture. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 43327
Author: Cladel, Judith
Release Date: Jul 27, 2013
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Translator: Star, S. K.