Green Ted
On the return visit a few days later, GT stayed in the bag.
Thought (and The Thinker) c. 1895
Thought, Rodin, c. 1895
British Museum
5th May 2018, 11:17
Fuji X-M1, 16-50 @ 42mm (63mm)
1/10 sec; f/5.6; ISO 800
Cat. 3,351-2
A tasteful juxtaposition. Quote from the Musée d'Orsay,
Camille Claudel, Rodin's pupil and lover, often posed for him and the sculptor made several portraits of her. Léonce Bénédite tells that, as was often the case, it was when he was working on the sculpture that Rodin decided not to take it any further and to leave the block rough hewn below the head. The work was then called Thought Emerging from Matter.The marble was given to Musée du Luxembourg – Musée des Artistes Vivants – in 1902.
The face is tilted forward, in shadow, and seems to be plunged in a reverie, with the eyes fixed on something invisible. The contrast between the perfectly polished flesh and the roughly hewn block intensifies the impression of an apparition and gives the work Symbolist depth. Musée d'Orsay
The Thinker
The Thinker, Rodin, 1903
British Museum
5th May 2018, 11:19
Fuji X-M1, 16-50 @ 24mm (36mm)
f/5.0; ISO 800
Cat. 3,353
Quote from the Rodin Museum,
When conceived in 1880 in its original size (approx. 70 cm) as the crowning element of The Gates of Hell , seated on the tympanum, The Thinker was entitled The Poet. He represented Dante, author of the Divine Comedy which had inspired The Gates, leaning forward to observe the circles of Hell, while meditating on his work. The Thinker was therefore initially both a being with a tortured body, almost a damned soul, and a free-thinking man, determined to transcend his suffering through poetry. The pose of this figure owes much to Carpeaux’s Ugolino (1861) and to the seated portrait of Lorenzo de’ Medici carved by Michelangelo (1526-31).
While remaining in place on the monumental Gates of Hell, The Thinker was exhibited individually in 1888 and thus became an independent work. Enlarged in 1904, its colossal version proved even more popular: this image of a man lost in thought, but whose powerful body suggests a great capacity for action, has became one of the most celebrated sculptures ever known. Numerous casts exist worldwide, including the one now in the gardens of the Musée Rodin, a gift to the City of Paris installed outside the Panthéon in 1906, and another in the gardens of Rodin’s house in Meudon, on the tomb of the sculptor and his wife. musee-rodin.fr
Goddess in Diaphanous Drapery
Goddess in Diaphanous Drapery, anon, 438-432 BC
Rodin Exhibition, British Museum
5th May 2018, 11:14
Fuji X-M1, 16-50 @ 16mm (24mm)
f/5.6; ISO 800
Cat. 3,354-5
The Martyr
The Martyr, Rodin, 1899
Rodin Exhibition, British Museum
5th May 2018, 11:24
Fuji X-M1, 16-50 @ 24mm (36mm)
0.4 sec; f/5.0; ISO 800
Cat. 3,356-7
Quote from the Met,
The Martyr was originally a standing figure on the lintel of The Gates of Hell. Rodin enlarged it, placed it in a supine position, giving the limbs a convulsive appearance, and heightened the tension by omitting a base and forcing the head and left arm of the figure to hang over the edge of any support provided. metmuseum.org
Four statues
Rodin and anon
Rodin Exhibition, British Museum
5th May 2018
Fuji X-M1, 16-50 @ 24mm (36mm)
f/5.0; ISO 800
Cat. 3,358-61
The four works are:
Two of Pierre de Wissant made in 1886 and 1887, nude trials for one of the clothed Burghers of Calais
A head and torso from the Parthenon, 447-438 BC
and Rodin's Funerary Spirit, aka Spirit of Eternal Repose, 1898.