AUGUSTE RODIN
THE MAN—HIS IDEAS—HIS WORKS
BY
CAMILLE MAUCLAIR
AUTHOR OF
"THE GREAT FRENCH PAINTERS AND THE EVOLUTION OF FRENCH PAINTING FROM 1830"
"THE FRENCH IMPRESSIONISTS," ETC.
TRANSLATED BY
CLEMENTINA BLACK
WITH FORTY PLATES
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON & CO.
1905
TO
EUGÈNE CARRIÈRE
AND
ROGER MARX
MY DEAR FRIENDS,
One of you is a great painter, whose art and mind arefraternally akin to Rodin's. The other is the first FrenchArt critic of our day, and has nobly defended Rodin from theoutset.
For these reasons I felt it just and natural to dedicatethis book to both of you, as a testimony of my affection,given in the presence of the English public, and under theauspices of a name that unites all three of us in the loveof beauty.
C. M.
The photographs used as illustrations to the present volume are kindlylent by M. Buloz, art publisher of Paris, to whom we offer our sincerethanks; and for five of them—very remarkable in their effect (theBellona, the bust of Hugo, the two studies of torsos for the St.John the Baptist, and the Fair Woman who was a Helmet-maker) we areindebted to Messrs. Haweis and Coles, to whom we are no less grateful.The very faithful portrait of M. Rodin is the work of M. Eckert, ofPrague.
PREFACE
Auguste Rodin is certainly the contemporary French artist about whommost has been written, especially during the last ten years. Inaddition to innumerable articles in newspapers and reviews, severalbooks have been devoted to him. In offering the present work to theEnglish public I think it desirable to define exactly the aim which Ipropose to myself. To begin with, as my limits of size are somewhatnarrow, I shall endeavour to condense into a restricted space as manyinteresting details as I can give, and to neglect nothing that maycontribute to a clear and precise presentment of Rodin's personalityand work. But such details have already been collected in some Frenchworks; and if I were to content myself with presenting a new version ofthem to the public I should have fulfilled but half of my task and myduty.
The other half interests me far more keenly. It seems to[Pg x] me thatafter having told the reader all that he ought to know about a man, acritic should then try to make a closer and deeper study of him—comeinto contact with his ideas and his soul, form an original judgment ofhim, and in short pass from the iconographie or biographic side to theartistic and psychological side of his work. I have tried, therefore,to begin where my fellow-workers have left off and to say exactly whatthey do not appear to me to have said.
The things written about Rodin have been mainly literary compositions,admiring and lyrical pass