Rodin: Eros and Creativity

After "The Thinker," Rodin may be best known for "The Kiss" - that moving and elegant tribute to love's physical expression. It's only one of the master's studies of the topic. This book opens with about fifty pages of biographical information, nicely illustrated with small insets, roughly a third of the page count. The real point of this book, however, is its collection of Rodin's art. We first see photographic studies of forty three sculptural works. These include single figures (like "Danaid") as well as couples, including "The Kiss", "The Eternal Idol," "Youth Triumphant," and others that vary in subject and mood. "Torso of Adele" captures one woman's voluptuous grace; "Walking Man" offers a simple statement of masculine power; "Pygmalion and Galatea" depicts a complex feeling that includes lowering oneself before the object of worship. A few black and white photos represent each piece, showing different angles and levels of detail. Unfortunately, the reader is at the mercy of the photographer's choices of views, which don't always depict the details one might want to examine. Choices of lighting and photographic reproduction also obscure some details, leaving the viewer as much tantalized as informed. The end of the book reproduces 75 of Rodin's sketches and watercolor studies. Careful printing on opaque, bright paper brings out even the faint details in many of these works. These images cover a somewhat different range of sensibilites, including sprawling poses that tend towards the salacious. Others (e.g. "Sleeping Girl") depict more innocent views, and yet others (including "Sapphic Couple") go deeper into the erotic range. There's no contradiction between them; each is a point sample of Rodin's broad appreciation of women's beauty. Rainer Crone does not cover the whole of Rodin's work, but doesn't try to. Instead this addresses one crucial segment of the total ouvre, and does so more thoroughly than broader studies can. This shouldn't be your only book on Rodin, but will complement your other studies of this masterful artist. -- wiredweird

I saw this book at the CMA and thought I'd write a review since no one has done so yet. This book is very nice for a paperback. Most of the writing, which I didn't really look at, was in the beginning of the book with the rest focusing primarily on reproductions of his sculpture. There were some photos of Rodin and the customary biographical information and a huge amount of reproductions of his work, most of which are good, but some are from angles that are not the best and some of the details are a bit confusing. With work like Rodin's that showcases a balance between the primitive and refined, it is important to get a clear shot in order to understand what it is that you are looking at. Some of the reproductions, while beautiful, are a bit confusing from that standpoint. Otherwise, a good book. I'll probably buy it myself someday, when I'm no longer a starving artist.