Laurent, Monique. The Rodin Museum of Paris. New York: Peebles Press, 1977.
This is an excellent introductory book to the sculptural works of Rodin. The book begins with a history of the Hotel Biron, where the Museum of Rodin is now located. The hotel was originally built in 1727 as a private dwelling to a wealthy family named Peyrenc. After the owner died in 1732, the estate passed through many hands before becoming endangered of being demolished in 1907. The building was saved by a trustee that divided the building up into several small apartments. These apartments, with their beautiful view of the adjoining countryside, drew many musicians, poets, and artists, to include Henri Matisse.
After a rough start working for other sculptors to stay alive, Auguste Rodin was finally making a name for himself on the international art market. As a result, he needed a place to house his vast collection of sculpture. At the age of forty, he had finally gained acceptance for his conception of an academic-free portrayal of the human form. In the past his non-academic approach had been met with hostility. In 1911, after many debates with the French government, the Hotel was saved from destruction again. It was purchased by the French government with the intention of renovating it into a quarters of the artist's works. These quotes, like Rodin's work, ooze with passion. Here is a quotation spoken when asked about the creation of his "Orpheus."
I accentuate the lines which best express the spiritual state that I interpret.... I accentuate the muscles which express distress.... I have exaggerated the straining of the tendons which indicate the outburst of prayer. (110)
Here are two quotes that I find very enlightening:
The artist, in representing the universe as he imagines it, formulates his own dreams. In nature, he celebrates his own soul. And so he enriches the soul of humanity. For in coloring the material world with his rich spirit he reveals to his delighted fellow beings a thousand unsuspected shades of feeling.... He gives them a new reason for loving life, new inner lights to guide them. (58)
When an artist softens the grimace of pain, the shapelessness of age, the hideousness of perversion, when he arranges nature- veiling, disguising, tempering it to please an ignorant public- then he is creating ugliness because he fears the truth. To any artist worthy of a name, all in nature is beautiful because his eyes, fearless and accepting all exterior truth, read then, as in an open book.... all the inner truth. (152)
This book was a great way for me to be introduced to Rodin and his work. He is definitely an artist that I must devote admiration and research to in the future. I find his work a breath of fresh air to the work that I've admired in the past. There is a direct link to the heart in his work that I would like to establish in my own work.
Monique Laurent is Curator to the Rodin Museum and received her graduate degree from the Ecole du Louvre. From 1964 to 1973 she served as Secretary General of the Ecole du Louvre and taught a course in the History of Sculpture and Architecture from the 17th century through today. Named a National Curator of Museums in 1967, she has been the Curator of the Rodin Museum since 1973.