Fundacion Mapfre in Madrid Opens Auguste Rodin Exhibition |
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| Tuesday, 20 May 2008 03:08 |
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Madrid, Spain - French artist Auguste Rodin is the protagonist of The Nude Body, an exhibition containing drawings and sculptures in which the erotic and sensual dominate. The galleries of the Fundacion Mapfre in Madrid received the works of art last week and will be showing them until July 6. Ninety drawings and 33 sculptures, made by Rodin (1840-1917), are on view. When Rodin was 76 years old he gave the French government the entire collection of his own works and other art objects he had acquired. They occupy the Hotel Biron in Paris as the Musee Rodin and are still placed as Rodin set them. Nude women, brushing their hair, with open legs, touching and exhibiting themselves are the visual component of the drawing exhibit which comes from the Rodin Museum in Paris. Some of Rodin’s best known sculptures are being shown in Madrid. A plaster for The Kiss and Lovers’ Hands are included. These works of art along with The Eternal Idol, underline the importance of sexual desire in Rodin’s work, which can also be seen in Iris, Messenger of the Gods and Kneeling Woman. The male body is also represented to a lesser extent as in The Age of Bronze. Experts point out that Rodin does not draw as if his works were sketches, but that he conceives his drawings as independent works of art, in a manner which transmits, on paper, that reality is not something static but with movement. Pablo Jimenez, Director of the Instituto de Cultura de la Fundación Mapfre (Fundacion Mapfre Cultural Institute), says that “the exhibit shows the essential Rodin, which aims to present the nude body in a new way”. “Rodin is without a doubt the great renovator of the turn of the century. He takes traditional sculpture and moves it to the 20th century. He plays the role of balancing tradition and openness towards the modern. His works of art provoke a great impact”, he stated. Rodin has a “special talent” to transmit sexuality, beauty and sensuality: “In his sculptures he does not need to get to explicit scenes to transmit sexuality”, Jimenez said.  Rodin, Auguste (1840-1917). The French artist Auguste Rodin had a profound influence on 20th-century sculpture. His works are distinguished by their stunning strength and realism. Rodin refused to ignore the negative aspects of humanity, and his works confront distress and moral weakness as well as passion and beauty. Francois-Auguste-Rene Rodin was born on Nov. 12, 1840, in Paris. At the age of 14 he entered the Petite Ecole, a school of decorative arts in Paris. He applied three times to study at the renowned Ecole des Beaux-Arts but was rejected each time. In 1858 he began to do decorative stonework in order to make his living. Four years later the death of his sister Marie so traumatized Rodin that he entered a sacred order. The father superior of the order recognized Rodin's talents and encouraged him to pursue his art. In 1864 Rodin met a seamstress named Rose Beuret. She became his life companion and was the model for many of his works. That year Rodin submitted his Man with a Broken Nose to the Paris Salon. It was rejected but later accepted under the title Portrait of a Roman. Rodin traveled in 1875 to Italy, where the works of Michelangelo made a strong impression on him. The trip inspired his sculpture The Age of Bronze, which was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1877. It caused a scandal because the critics could not believe that Rodin had not used a casting of a live model in creating so realistic a work. The controversy brought Rodin more fame than praise might have. In 1880 he was commissioned to create a bronze door for the future Museum of Decorative Arts. Although the work was unfinished at the time of his death, it provided the basis for some of Rodin's most influential and powerful work. In 1884 he was commissioned to create a monument that became The Burghers of Calais. His statues St. John the Baptist Preaching, Eve, The Age of Bronze, and The Thinker are world famous. Rodin died on Nov. 17, 1917, and was buried at Meudon. Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~ |
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