Rodin: Evolution of a Genius Family Audio Tour

Auguste Rodin (1840–1917)
The Hand of God, maquette
1898
plaster
Paris, Musee Rodin. © Musée Rodin

Hello. My name is Mitchell Merling and, on behalf of Alex Nyerges, director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, I’d like to welcome you to the exhibition Rodin: Evolution of a Genius. Organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Rodin Museum in Paris, this exhibition explores the creative process of the great sculptor Auguste Rodin, born in 1840. Ten stops have been designed especially for our young visitors. Consisting of short tales, they’ll add another layer of enjoyment to your visit. The stops for adults are indicated with a headphone icon, and those for children with an open book.

ZAC

My name’s Zac.

They told me there was a guided tour starting soon. It must be over there: I see someone . . . And he’s dressed in old-fashioned clothing. It must be on purpose.

[Whistling] (While Zac walks towards Émile, we hear Émile whistling to himself.)

ZAC

Hello! Are you the person taking us to the exhibition of Mr. Rodin?

ÉMILE

To the exhibition . . . ? Mr. Rodin doesn’t have an exhibition at the moment. You must mean to his studio.

ZAC

No, no. Oh! I understand! You’re pretending that you’re not in a museum. You’re a good actor!

ÉMILE

Listen, I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but if you want to see Mr. Rodin’s studio, you’re in luck because I work there. You can follow me if you like, it’s over there. My name’s Émile.

[Meowing]

And that’s Patapon.

ZAC

There are a lot of people here. Where is Mr. Rodin?

ÉMILE

I don’t see him right now, but he can’t be far. The master watches over everything his assistants do. He directs them and supervises their work.

ZAC

His assistants?

ÉMILE

Sure! Making sculptures is a team effort! Mr. Rodin creates the work, but to finish it and present it in different materials he needs help. First, the master makes his creation in clay.

He works with a model he chooses: a man or woman who stays beside him and whom he observes while he does his modeling.

He shapes the clay, flattening it with his fingers. He adds pieces and hollows or pinches the clay to give it depth. You see? He works for a long time!

Then, after a session, he carefully wraps his clay in moist cloth so it will stay soft, because he’ll come back later or maybe only the next day.

A room in the studio over there is full of different modelings waiting under cloths!

ZAC

Mr. Rodin works with his hands a lot.

ÉMILE

Yes, and he likes to depict hands. He’s done several sculptures on that theme. Look at this one. It’s called The Hand of God.

ZAC

Is that God in the process of making a man and a woman?

ÉMILE

Yes, Adam and Eve, the first human beings.

ZAC

It looks like they’re sleeping. It might also be the hand of a sculptor holding figures in his hand?

ÉMILE

You see, some parts are smooth because they were polished and other parts have been left rough.

It’s also an assemblage. The hand Rodin chose came from another sculpture he made, a great person you’ll see later.

ZAC

What?! The master, as you call him, takes pieces from other sculptures?

ÉMILE

Sure! Sometimes he assembles fragments. Mr. Rodin likes to experiment, he’s constantly inventing. You’ll see, there are lots more surprises in store for you here.

[Meowing]

ZAC

You, Patapon, aren’t in Mr. Rodin’s sculptures. There are no cat paws here, or any other animals.

ÉMILE

You’re right, Zac. What this great sculptor is interested in, more than anything else, is the human body.
Close

Auguste Rodin (1840–1917)
The Gates of Hell
bronze
Alexis Rudier Foundry
cast 1928
©Musée Rodin

 

ÉMILE

In the studio, you have to be careful where you walk. Fragments of bodies – torsos, arms, heads, legs – everything you see piled up here is important.

These are the pieces Mr. Rodin assembles to make new works.

Look: this is The Gates of Hell. His most important work.

ZAC

Oh! I don’t think I’ll ever manage to see everything that’s in it!

ÉMILE

It’s a work that wasn’t done in a day. Rodin worked on it for many years.

When he received this commission, he was already forty years old, and it was the first time he was able to devote himself entirely to his art, rather than doing jobs all over the place to earn his living.

ZAC

It’s a strange title: The Gates of Hell.

ÉMILE

When the government asked him to create a doorway for a new museum, the master chose to draw on The Divine Comedy, written by a poet in the Middle Ages, an Italian named Dante.

ZAC

Dante . . . I’ve heard that somewhere . . . Oh! It’s like in a video game. Do you know it?

ÉMILE

A what?

[Meowing]

You see? Patapon also wonders what you’re talking about.

So! In the Italian poet’s book, there is a section called Hell.

Later, Rodin also drew on other texts, like Metamorphoses by Ovid, a poet in the time of the Roman Empire, and also poems by Baudelaire, from the same time as Rodin.

ZAC

I wonder how many people there are in it.

ÉMILE

There are more than 200 figures. One of them is Dante. That’s him seated at the top, with his chin in his hand.

ZAC

I’ve seen that sculpture before! It’s The Thinker!

ÉMILE

Yes. You’ll see it later on. Rodin has done it in different formats.

You know, Mr. Rodin is constantly innovating. Usually, when someone makes a sculpture on a doorway or a building, they don’t stand out much from the surface. They are more like low reliefs, not like here, where Rodin makes them jut out a lot.

ZAC

He doesn’t do things like other people.

ÉMILE

You’re right, and people sometimes criticize him for that.

Auguste Rodin (1840–1917)
Assemblage (Female Torso with the Head of Slavic Woman in a Pottery Vessel)
1895–1910
plaster, terracotta
Paris, Musee Rodin. © Musée Rodin

ÉMILE

Rodin is a collector. He buys old sculptures and objects from different countries. This little vase is at least 2,000 years old.

ZAC

It’s not surprising that it’s cracked.

ÉMILE

Don’t you think that the little woman looks as though she’s on her knees?

ZAC

Her head is bent over. It looks like she is being punished.

ÉMILE

Or she’s praying . . .

One day, Rodin had the idea of attaching little figures to his ancient vases. He mixes up different eras.

ZAC

He didn’t want to add any color?

ÉMILE

He likes the white plaster. Here, the contrast with the black must have interested him a lot.

Have a look at the other vases while I go help the casters. You’ll see: sometimes the characters become handles, and at other times it looks like they’ve fallen into the container.

[Meowing]

ZAC

I’d like to try.

ÉMILE

What?

ZAC

With Patapon . . . His little head in a vase would look nice.

[Meow of disapproval (!) fading away in the distance]

ÉMILE (gently mocking)

You’d have to catch him first!

Close

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
Balzac, with a broad lapel on the dressing gown, penultimate study
1897, cast 1962
bronze
(Georges Rudier Foundry), Edmonton, Art Gallery of Alberta, gift of Westburne International Industries, 1978.

ZAC

It seems Mr. Rodin likes to work on this character. He is depicted several times here!

ÉMILE

This character, as you call him, is the great writer Honoré de Balzac. The master received a commission from a literary group, the Société des gens de lettres. They wanted a monument in his memory.

ZAC

Mr. Balzac is dead?

ÉMILE

Yes. He died in 1850. Mr. Rodin undertook considerable research to get to know his subject. He used photographs and paintings depicting the author. He read his books and letters. He visited the place where he lived. He even went to see his tailor and asked him to remake the dressing gown that Mr. Balzac liked to wear!

ZAC

What for? To wear it himself?

ÉMILE

He covered it in plaster! Balzac’s imposing figure is enveloped in this garment. Do you see?

ZAC

Even his hands are hidden. Only his head appears outside the fabric.

ÉMILE

Here, we’re looking at the next-to-last study made before the definitive version. The final work is enormous! It stands nearly three meters tall! In it, Mr. Rodin simplified the form of the garment. There are fewer folds, fewer hollows, and the expression on the figure’s face is what dominates.

ZAC

Once again, the master worked a long time to achieve the final result.

ÉMILE

Six years.

ZAC

Did the literary group like the work?

ÉMILE

They didn’t want it!

I imagine they would have preferred something more classical, like a man sitting at his table, pen in hand.

Mr. Balzac in a dressing gown, that caused a scandal!

ZAC

The master must have been furious!

ÉMILE

The refusal of his work hurt him. On the other hand, there are artists and connoisseurs who have recognized the force and modernity of this monument. Two of his friends told him: “You have never gone this far before.” For the master, this work is the greatest achievement of his career. He says that if he was mistaken and it doesn’t represent the truth it will be forgotten.

I don’t think that it will be . . . Time will tell.

Close

Auguste Rodin (1840–1917)
Thought (Portrait of Camille Claudel)
plaster
cast after the marble
1893-95
©Musée Rodin

ZAC

Hey! There’s Patapon, stretched out and purring beside this sculpture!

ÉMILE

It looks like that’s his favorite!

ZAC

I thought he liked playing hide and seek better and hadn’t yet developed a taste for art . . . (laughing)

ÉMILE

(Laughs) Maybe he likes the person depicted by the sculpture. That’s Ms. Claudel.

ZAC

I see it’s written “Thought” on the label.

ÉMILE

Yes. That’s the title the master chose. Ms. Claudel was a very talented artist who worked in the studio. Mr. Rodin often gave her the most difficult parts to do, like the hands or feet of monumental figures.

ZAC

The block of stone is large compared to her dainty head.

ÉMILE

And her face is very gentle.

Unlike some figures, which have very pronounced hollows and dramatic shading, Mr. Rodin wanted the light to fall gently on this work. The reliefs are shallow, so they don’t create a lot of shadow.

ZAC

But the master didn’t have the time to finish it . . .

ÉMILE

No, no, it’s complete. He wanted to give it the same quality, called non finito, that he likes in certain works by Michelangelo.

At one time, Mr. Rodin asked his assistants to copy exactly the plaster model he left them. Now he likes to work on it while it is being hewn and make decisions as he goes along. You see those marks that are still on the block? Those are holes made for the pointer’s needle. Rather than letting the stonemason remove that part, he left it in. He likes having the head appear to be enveloped by the marble.

ZAC

The chin resting on the block, the eyes lowered . . . This sculpture’s name suits it.

ÉMILE

What you see here is a plaster model molded from the work in stone. The marble statue was purchased by a collector and Mr. Rodin wanted to keep a copy.

ZAC

I understand, and I’m not surprised that Patapon chose this one.

Close

Auguste Rodin (1840–1917)
The Walking Man, large version
1907
Patinated plaster
218.3 x 160.2 x 74.9 cm
Paris, Musée Rodin
© Musée Rodin (photo Adam Rzepka)

ZAC

It’s the top of a body . . .

ÉMILE

A torso.

ZAC

And two legs . . .

What’s this sculpture called? The Man with No Arms?

ÉMILE

Look at what he’s doing.

ZAC

He’s walking.

ÉMILE

There you go!

ZAC

The Walking Man.

ÉMILE

One day, I heard Mr. Rodin say to an art critic: “I spy on life . . . I observe and take movements on the fly.”

ZAC

People come here to ask the master questions?

ÉMILE

Tons of them! Look at those men and that woman over there. They want to see the place where the famous sculptor creates his work. Coming to Rodin’s studio is very popular. And then there are people who write articles for newspapers and all that.

ZAC

Hmm . . . But tell me, Émile, this sculpture, what’s it made of?

ÉMILE

Plaster.

As I explained, the master works first of all with clay. But a sculpture wouldn’t last very long in clay. Even when they’ve been fired they are extremely fragile. He quickly makes a model from it in plaster, and that becomes the original.

ZAC

The original isn’t what Mr. Rodin made in terra cotta?

ÉMILE

No. When they make the mold, the clay sculpture is destroyed.

There are many casters in the studio and they have an important role. The master is constantly asking them to transfer the pieces he is working on to plaster.

ZAC

And this Walking Man, why does he have all those wounds on his torso?

ÉMILE

Mr. Rodin used a torso he had worked on for his sculpture of Saint John the Baptist. It was a plaster fragment that was in the studio and had all those marks.

ZAC

And he left them on.

ÉMILE

Yes.

Then he added these legs, which were also created while he was working on Saint John the Baptist. In addition, he decided not to hide the assemblage, so we can see a line at the top of the thigh.

ZAC

It looks like the remains of a very old sculpture.

ÉMILE

That’s true. Mr. Rodin admires old art. He has a whole collection of objects from Antiquity.

Close

Auguste Rodin (1840–1917)
The Thinker, large version
1903
Patinated plaster for bronze casting
182 x 108 x 141 cm
Paris, Musée Rodin
© Musée Rodin (photo Christian Baraja)

ZAC

The famous Thinker! This time it’s big!

ÉMILE

Yes. This work quickly became very popular. First it was enlarged and cast in bronze and placed in front of the Pantheon in Paris. Then Mr. Rodin sold other copies, which are found around the world.

ZAC

But you told me that this character, in The Gates of Hell, is called The Poet.

ÉMILE

I’m pleased to see that you pay such close attention to what I tell you, Zac!

It’s true! The master identified him with Dante and gave him this position, leaning forward, to observe everything happening down below, in hell.

Two sculptures he admires inspired him for this figure’s position: one was by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux and the other by Michelangelo, who he thought was the greatest of them all. In each of their works we see a man deep in thought.

ZAC

He’s reflecting.

ÉMILE

Yes, the master says that The Thinker depicts an artist. Sometimes he says that it’s himself, that he made his own statue.

ZAC

But how are the enlargements made?

ÉMILE

For that, Mr. Henri is the best. Henri Lebossé. He uses a pantograph for sculpting.

ZAC

A pantograph?!

ÉMILE

Yes. That’s a tool that is also used to enlarge drawings. To explain simply, we could say that it’s made up of compasses that are connected to each other.  One is small and one is large. When you draw with the small one, the large one makes the same drawing, but larger.

In Mr. Henri’s case, he draws in clay rather than on paper.

ZAC

I’m not sure I understand.

ÉMILE

Mr. Henri uses a tool which, at one end, feels the contours of the sculpture he’s reproducing. At the other end, and in much larger dimensions, his tool sculpts clay. This is how he manages to reproduce exactly the subtlest details in the master’s work!

ZAC

So if I understand correctly, everything that Mr. Henri makes is then molded in plaster.

ÉMILE

Exactly!

ZAC

They’re crazy these sculptors!

Close

Auguste Rodin (1840–1917)
The Three Shades, small version (for The Gates of Hell)
1897
Patinated plaster for bronze casting
97.4 x 95.6 x 52.1 cm
Paris, Musée Rodin
© Musée Rodin (photo Christian Baraja)

ÉMILE

Do you remember these three figures?

ZAC

Yes. They’re . . . uh . . .

I think I need a little help!

ÉMILE

They’re at the very top of The Gates of Hell. They’re called The Three Shades.

In The Divine Comedy, they represent the souls of three people condemned to hell. The Shades warn those who enter the gates that they cannot return. [Big voice] “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”

ZAC

Hmm . . . that doesn’t sound like fun.

ÉMILE

Like many other figures in the Gates, they have been enlarged. It’s a group that became a sculpture on its own.

ZAC

That position . . . I can’t manage to put my head like that.

ÉMILE

Of course not! You’re not a contortionist! The master knows how to find special models, and this time it was a circus performer. His misshapen body is extremely expressive.

ZAC

You mean “their bodies.” There are three of them.

ÉMILE

Look closely: It’s the same figure shown three times. Mr. Rodin likes to play with the possibilities his sculptures provide him. In this case, showing the same figure from three different perspectives creates an amazing effect.

ZAC

And their heads and hands are joined . . .

ÉMILE

As if they wanted to be one.

ZAC

And the pegs in their legs?

ÉMILE

Those are points that are used when making an enlargement or a mold. The plasters are used at different stages of the work. This sculpture also exists in bronze, in a much larger size.

[Meowing]

ZAC

Patapon is nearby!

ÉMILE

Yes, he’s walking around behind the works.

Unlike the reliefs I mentioned to you a moment ago, which are made on a flat surface, some sculptures are modeled in the round. They are worked on from every side, and it’s interesting to walk around them to see every part of them.

ZAC

You think Patapon likes to look at the works?

ÉMILE

I think he’s mostly playing hide and seek.

Close

Auguste Rodin (1840–1917)
Pan and Nymph
1910
Marble, practitioners Mathet and Peter (?)
95.5 x 78 x 66 cm
Paris, Musée Rodin
© Musée Rodin (photo Hervé Lewandowski)

ZAC

Look, Émile. A worker is working with a strange tool over there. What is it?

ÉMILE

It’s a pointing machine. It’s used to make marble sculptures. You see, it looks like an upside-down T.

ZAC

Yes, it does!

ÉMILE

This tool is used to measure the three main points of a sculpture. For example, if it was your portrait, they would point the top of your head and your two shoulders.

ZAC

But that isn’t enough to reproduce a whole portrait!

ÉMILE

No, but from those precise points a fourth point is used to measure everything else.

ZAC

So when Mr. Rodin wants to present a sculpture in stone, they use this machine?

ÉMILE

Not always. Only when the work isn’t enlarged. If the master wants a marble larger than his model, the pointer will use a three-point compass instead.  That makes it possible to calculate the dimensions to be enlarged as well.

ZAC

Hmm . . . it’s not so simple.

ÉMILE

Mostly it’s a very long process. The pointer makes 3,000 or 4,000 points on the block of stone!

ZAC

Oh! It’s no wonder that Mr. Rodin needs a whole crew of people!

Look, this character here has animal paws!

ÉMILE

Yes, and a man’s body. That’s Pan. In Greek mythology, he was the divinity related to nature. Do you know him?

ZAC

Does he play the flute?

ÉMILE

That’s right! This sculpture is called Pan and Nymph.

ZAC

And it was made in marble by a pointer.

ÉMILE

Well, no. The pointer does only the first stage of the work. The person who sculpts the marble is the studio assistant.

ZAC

The studio assistant.

ÉMILE

Take a walk around the studio. You’ll see these stonemasons at work.

Close

Auguste Rodin (1840–1917)
The Defense, or The Call to Arms
1879
Bronze, Léon Perzinka Foundry, cast 1899
111.7 × 64.5 × 43 cm
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, purchase, Horsley and Annie Townsend Bequest
This work was sold by Max Stern, Dominion Gallery, Montreal (1961)
Photo MMFA, Jean-François Brière

 

ÉMILE

Among the people who work in the studio, there are certain specialists I haven’t mentioned to you yet: the casters.

ZAC

What do they make?

ÉMILE

Works in bronze.

ZAC

Is that a metal?

ÉMILE

Yes. Bronze is an alloy, or a blend of two metals. It’s made of copper and tin.

ZAC

This figure with outstretched arms appears to be really angry!

ÉMILE

This work has two titles: The Defense, or The Call to Arms.

ZAC

And the crying angel is angry because the man has been killed?

ÉMILE

You might say that. When artists want to depict certain ideas, sometimes they use figures to do so. We call these allegories. For example, here the winged woman represents Liberty. This work was created by Mr. Rodin to commemorate the battle fought by Parisians in 1870 against the Prussian troops attacking them.

ZAC

But the nude figure . . . is that a Parisian in the midst of battle?

ÉMILE

(Laughs) Naturally, combatants in the battles of 1870 wore clothing! To pay tribute to them, the master used the pose of the dying warrior that can be seen in certain sculptures in Antiquity.

ZAC

He’s falling.

ÉMILE

With his arm still holding onto his sword.

ZAC

Hmm . . . And this work in bronze, how is it made?

ÉMILE

Casting is a long process with nearly a dozen steps!

The task is to create a work in metal that is hollow in the middle. The molten bronze is poured into a mold that is made up of an outside shell and a core. There is thus a limited amount of space – the contour of the work, if you like – which must be filled with metal.

Works in bronze are made in sections and the pieces are assembled afterwards.

ZAC

They piece them together?

ÉMILE

Yes, they’re welded together.

ZAC

So this sculpture was made in different sections? Let’s see . . .

[Sounds from the studio and a voice calling]

ÉMILE

Zac, I’m sorry. I have to leave you now. They’re calling me.

Take your time to look at the works, that’s good.

ZAC

Thanks for the visit, Émile! I have the impression of having journeyed through Mr. Rodin’s life!

ÉMILE

Come back whenever you like. It would be a pleasure to see you again!

[Meowing]

And Patapon agrees with me!

[Repeated meowing]

[Studio sounds]
Close