SeaMasterZ@aol.com
Lieutenant Commander
- Joined
- May 21, 2003
- Messages
- 1,924
Two Auguste Rodin sculptures compete for dominance in my mental registers. His exquisite Mother and Daughter (The Young Mother, The Young Mother at the Grotto) (1885) is an eternal testament to his skill, mother and child carved into loving embrace, recessed into a grotto. The technical skill required to sculpt mother and child within the grotto, apparently from a single block of marble, is beyond my mortal comprehension. That he could so vividly depict both a mothers love and the softness of a child from a singular block of stone is why he is immortalized in museums devoted to his work worldwide and in individual collections such as the works assembled in art museums including the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I was profoundly disappointed that there was not a single reproduction of the grotto piece anywhere in the Museum store. I suppose it is because the beauty of the work cannot be seen by mere photographic evidence; you must peer at the work closely, bring your face to the work level and behold the beauty by twisting your neck to see within the work, truly a three dimensional work of art that borders on breaking into a fourth dimension the inner space of the ethereal bond between mother and child.<br /><br />A. Thought<br />B. 1886 1889<br />C. Auguste Rodin<br />D. 1840 1917<br />E. Style?<br /> The other Rodin that I found fascinating was his Thought sculpture, (1886-1889). The sculpture is set in the center of the room; there is no way to ignore either its presence or power. It is mostly raw, elemental marble, standing nearly three feet high. This three-year experiment was designed to see if he could create a head so lifelike that it would animate the very stone from which it was hewn. <br /> Approaching the sculpture, it seems oddly out of balance, a human head resting in a pool of stone. And what a stone it is, primitive, as if it was ripped from the earth and only given the most meager preparation before being used. Undulating on all sides, no kerf to be found; this mighty rock was split along ancient seams, sent forth from timeless earth to immortalize Rodin.<br /> Once again, beautiful form, softly and gently teased from crude stone, a mental eminence radiant. Perhaps that is the wrong term to use, for her mental eminence is forever buried within the confines of the jagged, irregular rock. This is significant, giving an overwhelming sense that the metamorphosis from insensate stone to sentience is forever incomplete.
