RoR: Forum

As Ron Merrill used to call it, .... Rodin's "Constipation" ....

Post 1

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - 12:21pm

Constipation? I disagree. Though there are other Rodin works I prefer to this (particularly The Kiss and Danaide), this is a snapshot in marble of man experiencing a moment of profundity.

Though some of Rodin's work portrays ugliness and horror, there are some pieces from which I literally cannot keep my hands. When I lived in Paris I would make a monthly trip to the Musee Rodin so I could touch and see. The smooth, milky look of his white marble pieces just begs to be touched.

I believe the Met may have a warning poster with my picture on it. I can't stop molesting the statues.

Post 2

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - 12:51pm

I have to agree with Jennifer in enjoying this work. I don't have much experience with art and don't know his other works, so I can't judge Rodin as an overall artist. But as a particular piece of art that has made its way into popular culture (who wouldn't recognize it?) it's a breath of fresh air - the encapsulating of the act of thought. It seems to say to me "Thinking can be difficult, but it's important."

Jason

Post 3

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - 2:04pm

This statue should be eaten and donated to the National Trust.

(Edited by Rodney Rawlings on 3/08, 2:29pm)

Post 4

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - 2:26pm

I was moved nearly to tears the first time I saw this life-size The Age of Bronze in the museum. Rodin's various Age of Bronze sculptures have been my favorite ever since.

Post 5

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - 2:43pm

Wonderful choice, Michael. I have a picture of The Thinker outside my cubicle at work. And, Jennifer, I agree. The Kiss

and Danaide

are wonderful works, also.

Post 6

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - 4:11pm

And MUCH better works than 'the thinker', which, as has been pointed out, is not a natural form of position - try it yourself, and discover the elbow is on the wrong thigh... so the argument of it, the statue, presenting the idea of thinking as something choresome is most true.. Now, granted, this is not the view we all had been told of all our lives, but that just goes to show how little one sees to judge for oneself and so readily accept others'....

Post 7

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - 4:49pm

At his best, I don't think Rodin could touch "Andromeda" by Daniel Chester French:

My favorite piece of sculpture...and this photo doesn't begin to do it justice, when you see the original, life-size.

Post 8

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - 4:55pm

Robert M - The dude's got something heavy on his mind - like we all should. Oh, should I ever attain that kind of body! Hell, I would do my own thinking with my elbow on the wrong thigh, too.

The Thinker and The Kiss, despite being preliminary studies for the religious The Gates of Hell, are magnificent. Rodin is magnificent.

He makes me glad I'm a human being.

Michael

BTW - One hell of a piece of rock, Robert. Marvelous!

(Edited by Michael Stuart Kelly on 3/08, 4:57pm)

(Edited by Michael Stuart Kelly on 3/08, 4:58pm)

Post 9

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - 7:30pm

Thanks for posting those Bob. The Kiss is amazing!!!

Post 10

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - 8:30pm

Hey all,

Cool your having this discussion. I would like to share one bit of info: Rodin never sculpted marble. Its his name on the works but the all the marble sculpting was done by assistants. He would make a generalized small clay maquette and then leave it to his assistants. Camille Claudel, a great sculptor in her own right, was one of them.

Michael

Post 11

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - 8:56pm

Is it me, or does DANAIDE look like an animal skull at first glance?

Post 12

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - 9:01pm

Michael, thank you for posting this fascinating detail, as I was unaware of it. Claudel was indeed the source of some beautiful work of her own.

And Joe: no.

Post 13

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - 9:27pm

Michael N. says: I would like to share one bit of info: Rodin never sculpted marble. Its his name on the works but the all the marble sculpting was done by assistants. He would make a generalized small clay maquette and then leave it to his assistants.

Thanks a lot Michael (sarcasm in my voice), there goes one more romantic image I had!

;-)

George

Post 14

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - 9:58pm

Joe, DANAIDE does not look like an animal skull, but ANDROMEDA looks like a chocolate sundae at first glance.

Post 15

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - 10:35pm

Michael N,

Hell. What a bummer. Rodin did the creative work and supervised the donkey work for marble. I still think he is magnificent, but now my loner artist image of him has forever gone the way of Atlantis. A beautiful myth but not real.

He worked like a simplified film director.

Hell and damnation...

Michael

Post 16

Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - 12:04am

As I look at "The Kiss" carefully, there are some very strange things about it. The couple are not holding each other; his right hand is lying limply on her, barely touching, and there's no tension in it; her left arm seems to go off into space, not making contact with anything but his cheek. And I can't figure out what his body is doing: his torso and left arm are going in one direction and his legs in another; they can't be part of the same body. Either she has three legs, or his body is broken in half. And his hand and one foot are too big for the rest of him. Sorry, but all this bothers me so much I can barely see anything else.

Post 17

Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - 12:32am

Barbara - I have always seen this differently (but also, the angle of the photo in this thread does kind of suggest weird body parts). What I have always seen is that this is not a still kiss, but a fraction of a second during the start of a kiss in motion - the moment between the last vestiges of resistance and doubt to the full giving over to it. The placement of the arms and legs seem to convey an emotional tension to me that both man and woman consider this to be a Very Important Decision and Act, and it is especially powerful to me in suggesting the overcoming of hesitation. I also see a kind of broad swirl starting from the base and ascending to the culminating kiss (the point where my perception of the swirl stops).

I love this thing!

Michael

Edit - God, I don't believe that I just popped out with that like that. I hope this won't mean we still can't be friends...

(Edited by Michael Stuart Kelly on 3/09, 1:14am)

Post 18

Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - 1:34am

Okay, Michael, your interpretation makes sense, and perhaps the angle of the photo did throw me off.

But I don't see how we can still be friends. I'll have to think about friendship with someone who disagrees with me .I don't want to betray my most sacred principle: that I am always right.

Barbara

Post 19

Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - 5:23am