The Fallen Angel
Over de sculptuur
Rodin explored the human form in extreme physical and emotional states in a number of works (for example, 'The Prodigal Son'; museum number A.34-1914). Here a winged figure has collapsed on the ground and is held by a second naked female. The group is thought to evoke the vain flight of our illusions, though the intimacy of the two figures may also reflect Rodin's interest in the writing of Baudelaire.
Verder lezen
Rodin extracted single figures from groups to create individual pieces, or used existing individual figures in new combinations to form groups. The winged figure here, for example, is based on the Torso of Adèle, first modelled in the late 1880s as a siren figure for a villa in Nice. It was reused later on The Gates of Hell (the bronze portal and doors for the new Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris, which Rodin was asked to design in 1880, where it appears upper left of the tympanum, the rectangular panel immediately above the doors), and as a kneeling figure in Eternal Spring.
Rodin's appreciation of the formal aspects of the human body and his facility for creating new compositions was inspired by his vast collection of models and plaster casts. Turning them in his hand, he examined their formal properties and considered how the different pieces might be combined to create new sculpture.
This group has been known as 'The Fall of Icarus', and 'Illusion falls with broken wings, the earth receives him', but is now generally known by its present title. Just as Rodin changed the formal elements of his sculpture he also changed their titles equally frequently. (See also 'France', Museum no. A.39-1914).
Intussen, in het leven van Auguste Rodin
Het hele leven1890s–1900s
Young sculptors in Rodin's studio
His income let him hire gifted young sculptors, among them Antoine Bourdelle, Charles Despiau, Jules Desbois, François Pompon and Aristide Maillol. Constantin Brancusi left after two months, convinced that nothing grows under a big tree.
1893
Chicago: nudes behind a drape
Through the curator Sarah Hallowell, Rodin sent “Cupid and Psyche”, “Sphinx” and “Andromeda” to the Chicago World's Fair; the nudes caused such controversy that they were hidden behind a drape, with special permission needed to see them. Even so, the financier Charles Yerkes bought two large marbles and was probably the first American to own a Rodin.
1895
Buys the Villa des Brillants at Meudon
Rodin bought the Villa des Brillants estate near Paris and moved his studio there, but there was not enough room and two years later it went back to Paris. His income let him collect: Egyptian, Greek and Roman sculpture, Persian miniatures and paintings by his contemporaries, including Van Gogh's “Portrait of Père Tanguy”.
1898
Parts from Camille Claudel
Rodin never gave up Rose Beuret, his companion of the lean years and the mother of his son; in 1898 he and Claudel parted. A few years later Claudel suffered what is called a nervous breakdown, and her family confined her to an institution for thirty years.
1898
The scandal over “Balzac”
