RODIN :
THE CENTENARY EXHIBITION
At the
Grand Palais in Paris
22 March – 31
July 2017
#ExpoRodin
2017 marks the
centenary of the death of Rodin, who died on 17 November 1917 in his
studio/residence in Meudon at the age of seventy-seven.
A world-famous
sculptor as of 1900, Rodin created studies that made him the inventor of
assemblage, the partial figure and collage. Each generation of audiences and
creators view his work in a new way, and a different Rodin is discovered with
each passing decade. Far from relegating him to a bygone era, these new
perspectives constantly enrich the way his art is understood.
From Rodin’s
time to today, an Expressionist sensibility has flourished, one that explores a
unique relationship with time, material and meaning. The sculptural mass is
brought to life with its own vital energy, while the surface reveals an inner
effervescence with varying degrees of impetuosity. A swell of emotions floods
the uppermost layer of the material.
The exhibition
is structured into three major sections: Rodin the expressionist, Rodin the
experimenter, and the effects of this shockwave after 1945. Each section is
broken down into three parts, which explore the artist’s creative world, the
exhibitions and collectors he attracted and the ways in which numerous artists
have appropriated his work, from his lifetime to the present day.
[French] 2017 célèbre le centenaire de la mort de Rodin,
décédé le 17 novembre 1917 à son domicile-atelier de Meudon, à l’âge de
soixante-dix-sept ans.
Sculpteur mondialement célèbre à partir de 1900, Rodin
développe des recherches protéiformes qui en font l’inventeur de l’assemblage,
de la figure partielle et du collage. A chaque génération, le public et les
créateurs observent ce travail d’une manière nouvelle. Au fil des décennies, un
Rodin différent est découvert. Loin de le rejeter dans un passé révolu, ces
nouveaux regards enrichissent sans cesse la compréhension de son art.
De Rodin à aujourd’hui, une sensibilité expressionniste
s’épanouit, qui explore un rapport particulier au temps, à la matière et au
sens. La masse sculpturale s’anime d’une énergie vitale propre tandis que la
surface laisse transparaître avec plus ou moins d’impétuosité l’effervescence
intérieure. La houle des émotions affleure l’épiderme de la matière.
L’exposition est structurée en trois grandes parties :
Rodin expressionniste, Rodin expérimentateur, les effets de cette onde de choc
après 1945. Chaque partie développe en trois temps l’univers créatif de
l’artiste, les expositions et les collectionneurs qu’il attira, et enfin les
appropriations de son œuvre par de nombreux artistes, de son vivant et jusqu’à
nos jours.
Rodin the
expressionist
Rodin never
ceased to reassert the presence of nature at the heart of his work.
Nevertheless, he liberated himself from the subject in the traditional sense of
the term from a very early stage. He aim was to make the bodies speak: “ The
body,” he said, “is a cast that bears the imprint of our passions.”
He therefore
excluded any historical or literary reference from The Burghers of Calais
(Bourgeois de Calais) and The Gates of Hell (La Porte de l’Enfer), choosing instead to
assert the universal dimension of the figures and group. Beyond this
intentional absence of intellectual references, Rodin pushed beyond the
boundaries of naturalism through the forms he created on a quest for
expression.
From 1890, the
master was unanimously praised as the man who brought sculpture back to life.
His fame – and aura – never ceased to flourish. Young artists flocked to his studio,
and in turn pushed what they had learnt there to the limit. Bourdelle,
Lehmbruck and Zadkine are just three such artists who have never shied away
from exaggeration, deformation or amplification of the form, while others
instead retained Rodin’s dramatically expressive vision of human destiny.
Rodin the
experimenter
From the 1880s
and with the work produced for The Gate of Hell, Rodin accumulated hundreds of
plaster casts of his clay models. His studio became agiant reservoir of forms
which he constantly drew from, sculpted, took apart and recomposed. The marks
of work or time were increasingly used for their aesthetic value, while figures
created separately were brought together to produce new works. Seeking the
sources of a rrenewed sculpture in the very process of developing form became a
constant practice for Rodin. This approach, which was entirely original at the
time, would go on to become extremely widespread among future generations of
artists.
This
recomposition also applied to Rodin’s drawings, as well as the ways in which he
retouched the photographs taken of his sculptures.
Thus, in
sculpture and graphic art alike, the same figures reappear ceaselessly, turned
to a different angle or brought together. A new art form appeared, one of variation
and series.
Rodin: the
shockwave
With its major
technical inventions – cars, aeroplanes, telephones, film, etc. – the late 19th
century saw a profound change in the relationship with space and time, as well
as the pushing back of horizons, specifically through colonisation. From then
on, Rodin sought to reformulate the sculptural tradition in a language adapted
to these cultural transformations.
After the
horrors of the Second World War and Holocaust, the concept of creation changed
once again. An interest in the subject and figuration returned to the
spotlight. A new generation of artists returned to the expression of feelings
and emotions through a more sensitive form of sculpture. Disciples of Bourdelle
– himself a student of Rodin – including Germaine Richier and Alberto
Giacometti were at the forefront of this new direction, with their abrupt
subjects, tense forms, powerful plays on shadow and light and trembling
surfaces.
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| Brancusi "Le Baiser", pierre calcaire 1923-1925 |
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| Alberto Giacometti, bronze 1948 |
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| Klimt, encre de chine sur papier japon |
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| Ivan Mestrovic, Zdenac Zivota [Fontaine de la vie] | Détail | , | plâtre 1905 |
Texts / Grand Palais Museum
Photos / Catherine Pulleiro
