Rodin
The Shape of Genius
Published on 27. October 1993
Book
Hardback
608 pages
978-0-300-05400-2 (ISBN)
Description
Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was arguably the most famous sculptor in the world in 1900 - a time when painting and painters excelled. How he reached such heights at the age of 60, and what happened when he did, are important questions that have not been closely considered in previous works of biography. In this reinterpretation of Rodin's life and times, the author draws for on closely guarded archives and family letters to disentangle the facts of his life from the myths that have grown up around them. Butler had exclusive access to a voluminous archive of unpublished letters written to Rodin by the most important people in his life - his son, his lover, Emile Zola, Claude Monet and George Bernard Shaw, amongst many others. The result is a richly textured account of the artist and his world, Paris's Left Bank at the turn of the century, in which Rodin's life is placed firmly in a historical and political context and one in which the author considers the meaning of his life, his work and his relationships.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
200 b&w illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 184 mm
Width: 260 mm
Weight
1660 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-300-05400-2 (9780300054002)
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Schweitzer Classification
Content
A Parisian family 1860; Maria's vow; brother Auguste; independent man; a sculptor's assistant; Brussels and working in a partnership; outside the partnership; Michelangelo; "The Vanquished One"; the Paris salon; the republic needs monuments; why was Rodin commissioned to make "The Door"?; silence and creativity; genius in the faces of a man; the women in Rodin's life; the burghers of Calais - 1884-1889; how the door of the museum of decorative arts became "The Gates of Hell"; in the company of a "Woman of Genius" monuments to genius, I - Bastien-Lepage, Claude Lorain and Victor Hugo; monuments to genius, II - the inauguration of Claude Lorain and Baudelaire's tomb; ateliers and assistants; the passion of Camille Claudel; the societe des gens de lettres; learning to say - "It is Finished"; victory and defeat - the Victor Hugo and the Balzac monument; 1899 - becoming a entrepreneur; 1900 - outsider's victory; the home of the sculptor; lionizing Edward's court; teaching Americans about sculpture; Rodin's reputation in France; sexual imperatives; new wife and a home in the city; reckonings; the gift.