AUGUSTE RODIN

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 53, 26 November 1917, Page 6

AUGUSTE RODIN

A GENIUS IN SCULPTURE

WHO REFLECTED THE SPIRIT

OF FRANCE

Auguste Rodin, whose death in. Franco is recorded, was the greatest sculptor of modern times. He was a. genius in his art, one whoso work, stands out for its rugged strength and amazingly bold conceptions. 'Like all pioneers—and Rodin was the pioneer of realism in sculpture, as against tho smooth perfection of the old masters— he had critics and rivals in plenty. -, "They will hot understand my realism," he said during his period as viceprosident of the Societe National© dea Beaux Arts.

"For them, sculpture should not. endeavour to represent flesh and. blood and bouc, since marble and bronze do not possess the colours which in painting create tho illusion of lite. I, on the contrary, claim that the sculptor can reach the same, result-if he will reproduce with fidelity and intensity tho model he has before him. It is. with his eyes fixed on life that he. must work; and his art will be; able to represent it entire, when he has observed sufficiently, and has sufficiently trained his fingers."

Auguste Rodin was born in Pant on November 12, 1840, and was the son of Jean Baptists Rodiu, a clerk by, profession in the Prefecture of tho - Seine. At the age of 16 he attended, a free drawing school, and thero; he found his true vocation. He' spent the' , mornings from 8 o'clock till noon a & " the school, and in tho .afternoon imbibed food for inspiration iii the trea-sure-hung Louvre. Ho was known to say to one who questioned the value of so much time spent in the Louvre: "A visit to the Louvre is for me an hour of beautiful music; it exalts me; h gives me a desire to work in my. turn; it gives me, too, a transitory intoxication, which one has to beware I of, for work should be quiet and rei flective." Towards the end of his third, year at the school he took part in a competitive examination for entrance to tho Ecole des Beaux Arts, but was fortunately unsuccessful, lor the setI back to his hopes only forced his talent; to a more speedy fruitfulness. At 23 he married, and a year later he produced bis first masterpiece in modelling, known in bis list of works under, the title "L'Homme au nez Casse." lb was the bust of a man with ravaged features, forehead deeply lined with wrinkles, a bristly heard, and a nose that was twisted and flattened; anil

yet the face ae a whole was stamped, with a nobility of expression that was the more striking for its contrast to the facial -ruin, to which it belonged. It waß declined by the Salon,but Rodin knew its worth better than the > Salon judges, and later it became quite famous. It was, however, with his "Aeo d'Airain" that he came to the front. That was the_jeal beginning of his career as a-rnasigr. sculptor. _ France and the world have since acclaimed mm as a genius. Among his famous works are. "The Genius of War"—a wiUV winged female figure which hovers screaming above a pillar against which a. slain figure of a Herculean man reclines; "The a bust of Do Rochefort, a staiue to Claude Lorrain. three figures from tjie Summit of- He 1 Gate "The Kiss." "Flight of Love, "The Earth of the Moon," ."The Prodigal Son," "The Hand of God, ' Orpheus and Eurydice." "Francesco and Paola," "The Soul and the Body, ■ "The Last Vieion," "Victor Hugo, and "Minerva." . An event of moment m the world or art occurred last year when Rodin left his art treasures to France, under certain conditions that the Government complied with: the State was to provide for the housing of these masterpieces in the Maison Biron in the Rue de Varenne, which Rodm had occupied for several years, and which lio was to occupy until his death. In this fashion was the genius of Rodm identified with the genius of France.