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AUGUSTE RODIN · THE BURGHERS OF CAL AIS

A Resource for E ducators

T H E M E T R O P O L I T A N M U S E U M O F A R T

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AUGUSTE RODIN · THE BURGHERS OF CALAIS

A Resource for E ducators

N E L L Y S I L A G Y B E N E D E K

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

This resource was produced in conjunction with the special exhibition

!"#$%’& '"%(')%* *" +$,*"! -(."

held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from October !, "###, through January "$, $%%%

The exhibition was organized by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation

The exhibition in New York was made possible, in part, by

The Georges Lurcy Charitable and Educational Trust

© !""" by The Metropolitan Museum of ArtAuthor, Nelly Silagy BenedekDesigner, Emsworth Design, Inc.Production, Masha TurchinskyEditor, Joan Meinhardt

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Benedek, Nelly SilagyAuguste Rodin: the Burghers of Calais: a resource for

educators /Nelly Silagy Benedek.p. cm.

Includes bibliographical referencesISBN "-#$"%%-%&#-'

(. Rodin, Auguste, (#&"–(%($. Burghers of Calais—Study and Teaching (Secondary) I. Rodin, Auguste,(#&"–(%($. II. Title

NB))*.R$ A'*!$ !"""

$*"'. %!—dc!( %%–"#'%!'

On the cover

Auguste Rodin, French ((#&"–(%($)The Burghers of Calais(##&–%), cast (%#)

Bronze#!+ x %& x $) in. (!"%.' x !*#.% x (%".) cm)The Metropolitan Museum of ArtGift of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor, (%#%

(%#%.&"$

SUGGESTIONS FOR EDUCATORS !

INTRODUCTION "

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY #$

THE STORY OF THE BURGHERS OF CALAIS ##

THE INDIVIDUAL BURGHERS #%

HISTORY OF THE COMMISSION #!

RODIN’S INNOVATIONS #&

BRIDGE TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY %%

DEGAS %'

PHOTOGRAPHY %(

RODIN’S CRITICS %!

CASTING RODIN’S SCULPTURE %)

CHRONOLOGY OF THE ARTIST’S LIFE %&

BIBLIOGRAPHY *$

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CO N T E N TS

Teachers of various age groups and subjectswill find this material useful. This resourcewill be of particular interest to those whoteach language arts, visual arts, Europeanhistory, art history, and French.

Following are suggestions on how to incor-porate this resource into your curriculumusing the New York State Learning Stan-dards for the Arts as a guideline:

Standard !: Creating, performing,and participating in the arts

> Students will develop their own ideasand images through the exploration andcreation of artworks based on themes oractual events. After learning about Rodin’ssculpture The Burghers of Calais, studentsmay create their own drawings or sculpturesdepicting a famous historical event or illus-trating the idea of heroism. Students maydesign a work like Rodin’s that focuses onhumanizing the event or the people por-trayed.

Standard ": Knowing and using arts materials and resources

> Students will increase their understand-ing of art by viewing slides and by visiting amuseum to see an original work of art.Teachers may do the classroom activitydescribed in this resource and then followup with a visit to either The MetropolitanMuseum of Art or a local museum or galleryto see an original sculpture. Students maythen discuss the differences between view-ing slides of a work and seeing the original.

> Students will become acquainted withart history to understand what is requiredto become an artist, historian, art historian,and/or art critic. By learning about Rodin’slife and work, students will develop an

understanding of the artist’s craft and theskills necessary to create a work of art. Theywill learn how an artist makes choices anddecisions about the form and content of hisor her work. In addition to the classroomactivity included in this resource, studentsmay write a formal critique of The Burghersof Calais, thereby gaining an understandingof how historians, art historians, and art crit-ics formulate their ideas about art and/orhistory.

Standard #: Responding to and analyzing works of art

> Students will explore the meanings, pur-poses, and sources of a work of art. Theywill describe their responses to the workand the likely reasons for those responses.By doing the classroom activity described inthis resource, students will both describewhat they see in Rodin’s sculpture TheBurghers of Calais and consider the ideasexpressed in the piece. After learning thehistory of the sculpture, they will discusswhy and how Rodin chose to render his fig-ures the way he did.

> Students will describe the visual andother sensory qualities (texture, shape, size,and volume) of a work of art. By viewing theslides of Rodin’s work as well as slides ofwork by other artists, doing the classroomactivity, and discussing Rodin’s sculpture,students will be able to describe how Rodincreates movement, texture, and shape, andhow he conveys emotion in his piece.

> Students will explain how the ideas,themes, or concepts in a work of art areexpressed in other disciplines, specificallyscience, literature, and social studies.In relation to science and photography, students may compare Rodin’s sculpture tothe stop-action photography of Eadweard

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S U G G E S T I O N S F O R E D U C ATO R S

Muybridge. The photographer’s images ofpeople and animals in motion mirror theeffect of the six burghers’ repeated gestures.

Social studies students may discuss Rodin’ssculpture in terms of its subject matter. TheBurghers of Calais is a tribute to six men whowere prepared to die in order to liberate theFrench town of Calais, under siege by KingEdward III of England in !"#$, during theHundred Years’ War. The sculpture offersRodin’s perspective on what it means to beheroic in times of war. His heroes, however,are not examples of unqualified bravery.They are conflicted individuals exhibiting arange of emotions, including doubt, despair,and confusion.

> Using the language of art criticism, stu-dents will write analyses and interpreta-tions of Rodin’s work. In addition to doingthe classroom activity in this resource, stu-dents may research Rodin’s work and readcritical reviews of his sculpture in books andperiodicals. They then may discuss how crit-ics of Rodin’s time interpreted his work andcompare these responses with their own.

> Students will analyze and interpret theways in which psychological concepts areexplored in The Burghers of Calais. By dis-cussing the expressions on the faces of the sixburghers, students will attempt to determinewhich emotions and concepts are exploredby the artist as well as their significance.

> Students will describe the impact of thework of art on the viewer. Students willdescribe the impact of Rodin’s sculpture onthe viewer through discussions and throughthe writing exercise described in this resource.

Standard !: Understanding the culturaldimensions and contributions of the arts

> Students will explore the significance ofRodin’s piece in terms of its cultural contextand will compare Rodin’s work to the art ofother cultures and/or eras.

Students may write a short research papercomparing Rodin’s The Burghers of Calaiswith public sculptures in their own neigh-borhoods that pay tribute to a hero orfamous leader. The students may discusshow the artists express the idea of heroismor bravery in different ways or how thedepictions of heroism are similar.

Students may compare Rodin’s sculpture toworks by Edgar Degas. Both Rodin andDegas created forms—specifically torsos,limbs, and faces—that they use repeatedlythroughout their work. Constructing com-positions in this way creates a sense ofmovement throughout the piece; it alsofocuses attention on the rhythm of the for-mal arrangement rather than on a descrip-tion of a particular event or person.

Students also may compare Rodin’s work tothe art of twentieth-century artists. Discus-sions may focus on how Rodin’s work wasinnovative in expressing psychological con-tent as well as in experimenting with form.

Students also may discuss Rodin’s sculpturesin relation to those produced by non-Euro-pean artists, such as artists from Africa andAsia. Students may focus how artists fromdifferent cultures depict the human figure.

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Rodin’s sculpture The Burghers of Calais*consists of six figures standing in variouspositions and facing in different directions.They stand together on the same level—nofigure is elevated above another—wear thesame plain garments, and possess similarphysiques. However, they all exhibit differ-ent facial expressions: sorrow, despair,determination.

This resource will discuss the followingquestions: Who are these men? What is theirrelationship to one another? What are theydoing? Why are their hands and feet so largein comparison with their bodies? Why arethey facing in different directions? Does thesculpture tell a story? Why is it an importantwork of art?

Students will benefit most from thisresource by discovering Rodin’s sculptureand its message on their own. The class-room activity is designed for students tostudy The Burghers of Calais before theyknow anything about the story or Rodin’slife. Teachers also may benefit by doing theactivity themselves before reading the othersections of this resource.

* The title of the sculpture in French is LeMonument aux Bourgeois de Calais.

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I N T RO D U C T I O N

BEFORE GIVING THE STUDENTS INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCULPTURE . . .

> Show the slides of The Burghers of Calaisto your students and/or display the posterincluded in this resource. > Ask your students to focus on one of thesix figures.> Have the students closely study the figurethey have chosen and then imagine them-selves as that figure. Ask them to write anaccount of their point of view, their thoughtsand feelings, based on what they see in thesculpture. Their comments should be writ-ten in the first person, as though they wereone of the men in Rodin’s sculpture.> Have the students read their commentsaloud, then ask if the other students canguess which figure is being discussed.> Compare the comments of students whochose the same figure. How are the observa-tions similar? How are they different? Whichemotions does Rodin convey? How hasRodin expressed these emotions?> Compare the comments about differentfigures. Are there any similarities?

The purpose of this exercise is for studentsto accomplish the following:

> Articulate their reactions to the sculpturein writing> Discover how each student may interpretthe sculpture in his or her own way> Understand the complexity and variety ofthe figures’ expressions and poses> Begin exploring the significance of thepiece and, specifically, the relationshipsamong the various figures and the messageconveyed by the sculpture in its entirety

AFTER DISCUSSING THE STORY OF THE BURGHERS OF CALAIS . . .

> After you have discussed the sculpturewith your students and told them the storyof the burghers, ask them to do the exerciseagain, this time incorporating the knowl-edge they have acquired from the discus-sions.

The purpose of this exercise is for studentsto see how their responses to the sculptureremain the same or differ once they knowthe specifics of the narrative.

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C L A S S RO O M AC T I V I T Y

In !""# the town council of the French city ofCalais commissioned Rodin to produce asculpture that would pay tribute to theburghers of Calais, heroes of the HundredYears’ War and symbols of French patriotism.

In !$%&, according to the fourteenth-centuryChronicles of Jean Froissart, King Edward IIIof England laid siege to the French town ofCalais. After eleven months, with the peopledesperately short of food and water, six ofthe leading citizens, or burghers, of Calaisoffered themselves as hostages to Edward inexchange for the freedom of their city. Theking agreed, ordering them to dress in plaingarments, wear nooses around their necks,and journey to his camp bearing the keys tothe city. Although the king intended to killthe burghers, his pregnant wife, Philippa,persuaded him to spare them, believing thattheir deaths would be a bad omen for herunborn child.

The story of the burghers of Calais appearsin the work of earlier artists, most of whomfocused on the single figure of Eustache deSaint-Pierre. Rodin, however, decided toinclude all six burghers. He had read Frois-sart’s Chronicles and elected to use the textas the basis for his sculpture.

Froissart describes how each man, a richand well-respected citizen, announces hisintention to offer himself as a hostage toKing Edward III. Froissart then writes of themen’s departure after removing the fineclothing that would have identified them aswealthy citizens, wearing instead their“shirts and breeches” (undergarments).

Rodin chooses to portray the moment in thenarrative when the men, believing they aregoing to die, leave the city. He shows theburghers as vulnerable and conflicted, yetheroic in the face of their likely fate.

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T H E S TO RY O F T H E BU RG H E R S O F C A L A I S

The council originally had conceived of thesculpture as a monument to Eustache deSaint-Pierre, leader of the group and themost famous of the burghers. Rodin, how-ever, decided to follow Froissart’s text asclosely as possible and include all sixburghers, according them equal status.

The following is an excerpt from Froissart’sChronicles:

. . . the richest burgher in the town, Sir Eustachede Saint-Pierre, got up and said: “Gentlemen, itwould be a great shame to allow so many peopleto starve to death, if there were any way of pre-venting it. And it would be highly pleasing to OurLord if anyone could save them from such a fate. Ihave such faith and trust in gaining pardon andgrace from Our Lord if I die in the attempt, that Iwill put myself forward as the first. I will willinglygo out in my shirt, bareheaded and barefoot, witha halter [noose] around my neck and put myselfat the mercy of the King of England.”

. . . Another very rich and much respected citizen,called Jean d’Aire, . . . rose up and said he wouldkeep him company. The third to volunteer was SirJacques de Wissant [sic], who was very rich bothby inheritance and by his own transactions; heoffered to accompany his two cousins, and so didSir Pierre his brother. Two others completed thenumber, and set off dressed only in their shirtsand breeches, and with halters round their necks,as they had been told.

John Jolliffe, ed. and trans., Froissart’s Chronicles(London: Harvill Press, !"#$), p. !%%, quoted in Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, p. !&'

Froissart mentions four of the six burghersby name: Eustache de Saint-Pierre, Jeand’Aire, Jacques de Wiessant, and Pierre deWiessant. (The other two, whose names arementioned in a manuscript found in the Vatican Library in !&#(, are Jean de Fiennesand Andrieu d’Andres.)

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T H E I N D I V I D UA L BU RG H E R S

Jean d’AireEustache de Saint-PierrePierre de Wiessant

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Pierre de Wiessant(/0123 -*,.)

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Although Froissart narrates the sequence ofevents and describes how the burgherslooked when they were leaving Calais(dressed in plain garments, wearing noosesaround their necks, and bearing the keys tothe city), he does not describe their facialfeatures, postures, or specific gestures.Rodin used his imagination to create figuresthat he believed would be true to the spiritof Froissart’s account.

Rodin had models pose for certain parts ofthe figures, although in the end the figuresassumed more generalized types. AugusteBeuret, Rodin’s son with his companion,Rose Beuret; the painter Jean-Charles Cazin,a native of Calais who claimed to be adescendant of Eustache de Saint-Pierre; andPignatelli, an Italian peasant, all posed forthe sculpture at various stages. Rodinobserved his models’ features but modifiedthem in creating his figures. He made

numerous studies of each of the sixburghers, first modeling them as nudes andthen rendering them as clothed figures. AfterRodin had developed each figure individu-ally, he joined them into a single work of art.

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Jacques de Wiessant(#$%& '$&()

Jean de Fiennes

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Andrieu d’Andres

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Eustache de Saint-Pierre

Eustache de Saint-Pierreis the richest, oldest, andmost prominent citizen of the group andthe first to volunteer.

Jean d’Aire, thesecond to volun-teer, standsfirmly in place,his jaw set, hold-ing one of thekeys to the city.

Jean d’Aire

Pierre de Wiessant, Jacquesde Wiessant’s youngerbrother and the fourth tovolunteer, turns sidewaystoward Jean de Fienneswith one arm raised and hismouth open.

Pierre de Wiessant

Eustache de Saint-Pierreand Jean d’Aire

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As a group, the figures convey emotions

ranging from pain, hesitation, and

doubt to conviction and determination.

Rodin presents his “heroes” as complex,

conflicted individuals.

Jacques de Wiessant,the third to volunteer,has one arm raised andstands behind Eustachede Saint-Pierre

Jean de Fiennes, theyoungest burgher,stands with arms outstretched andmouth open.

Andrieu d’Andres burieshis head in his hands.His bent posture andenormous handsobscure his face.

Jacques de Wiessant

Andrieu d’Andres

Jean de Fiennes

Jean d’Aire andAndrieu d’Andres

In September !""# the municipal council ofCalais decided to commission a statue ofEustache de Saint-Pierre, the oldest andmost important of the six burghers of Calais.The decision was controversial because hisrole in the drama was unclear. Someaccounts reported that he had actually com-mitted treason, collaborating with KingEdward III, while others lauded him as agreat hero.

In January !""$, based on the submission ofa small-scale model, the municipal councilchose Rodin to create the monument to theburghers of Calais. The clay maquette, orsketch, showed six figures striding forward,with the figure of Eustache de Saint-Pierreleading the group.

The contract signed by Rodin and the mayorof Calais required the artist to present a sec-ond maquette before completion of the finalwork; it was to be one-third the size of thefinal monument. Typically, sculptors of pub-lic works submitted a small model for theapproval of the committee commissioningthe work. The model usually reflected whatthe finished product would look like.

In this case the committee was pleased with the first version. Rodin proceeded withhis work and in August !""$ offered a secondmodel for review. Because Rodin constantlyworked and reworked his pieces, the sculp-ture had taken on, by this point, a very different appearance. After the committeereviewed the second model the membersreported:

This is not the way we envisaged our glorious citizens going to the camp of the King of England.Their defeated postures offended our religion. . .the silhouette of the group leaves much to bedesired from the point of view of elegance. Theartist could give more movement to the ground,which supports his figures and could even break

the monotony and dryness of the silhouette byvarying the heights of the six subjects. . . . We feelit our duty to insist that M. Rodin modify the atti-tudes of his figures and the silhouette of his group.

Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, p. %"%

In the first maquette the six figures were elevated on a pedestal, connected by a rope,and arranged striding forward as a group. In the second model Rodin had removed thepedestal and modeled each figure sepa-rately. Although they were still on the samelevel, they now existed as individual figures.From the beginning, the council had notbeen satisfied with the figural arrangement.Monumental sculpture in the nineteenthcentury typically assumed a pyramidalstructure in order to delineate clearly themost important figure or figures. The coun-cil concluded that the separate placement ofeach figure, all on the same level, renderedthe sculpture unacceptable.

Rodin, always quick to respond to negativecriticism of his work, wrote a letter to themayor of the city, Omer Dewavrin:

I read again the criticisms I had heard before, butwhich would emasculate my work; the heads toform a pyramid (Louis David method) instead of a cube (straight lines) means submitting to thelaw of the Academic School. I am dead against theprinciple, which has prevailed since the begin-ning of this century but is in direct contradictionwith previous great ages in art and producesworks that are cold, static and conventional. . . . I am the antagonist in Paris of that affected acad-emic style. . . you are asking me to follow the peo-ple whose conventional art I despise.

Miller and Marotta, Rodin: The B. Gerald Cantor Collection, p. ##

Rodin was addressing criticism thatendorsed an academic style intended for allartists. The well-established model for bothpainting and sculpture provided a series of

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H I S TO RY O F T H E CO M M I S S I O N

rules that were supposed to guide the artistin his work. The “pyramid” refers to a hierar-chical arrangement of figures, with the mostimportant figure on top flanked by lesserones, which the artist Jacques-Louis David(1748-1825) used in his work. Rodin sawthese guidelines as limitations and perceivedtheir implementation as formulaic andaffected.

Rodin was determined to create a work thatdelineated the importance of each of theburghers and emphasized the individual ges-tures, facial expressions, and postures. Herefused to conform to a prescribed academicstyle dictated by the École des Beaux-Arts(the official school in France for trainingpainters) and the council that had commis-sioned his work.

Although the council had reservations aboutRodin’s work, they agreed to allow him to fin-ish it. Rodin received !,""" francs on June #$,#%%&, and, although the commission was sus-pended that year due to a financial crisis inCalais, Rodin continued working on thepiece. He exhibited the group in plaster atthe Exposition Monet–Rodin in Paris duringthe spring of #%%'.

In September #%'( Mayor Dewavrin rein-stated the commission and Rodin proceededto look for a foundry that would cast thesculpture according to his specifications. Thefirm of Le Blanc-Barbédienne agreed to casteach figure in a single piece and then jointhem together.

On June (, #%'), Rodin’s The Burghers ofCalais, on a high pedestal and enclosed by aniron fence, was unveiled in the RichelieuGarden in Calais. In #'!* the monument wasmoved to the front of the Calais town hall(the Hôtel de Ville), now without the fenceand on a much lower pedestal, as Rodin orig-inally had specified.

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Auguste Rodin’s sculpture exhibits character-istics that were innovative for his time andthat shocked many of his contemporaries,including the town council of Calais.

> All of the figures stand at the same level.Although Eustache de Saint-Pierre, thebearded man, was considered the leader ofthe group, Rodin does not place him in aprominent position in relation to the otherburghers; all the men stand at the same level.Rodin chooses not to use the hierarchicalarrangement typical of his time,which called for a pyramidalgrouping with a prominentcentral figure. For theviewer, there is no cleardistinction as to which fig-ure might be the leaderof the group. All themen are literallyand figuratively onequal footing.

> The sixburghers facein differentdirections.Rodin con-structs hissculptureas a collectionof figures thatseem randomly

grouped together. Because each one is facing in a different direction and gesturingin various ways, each seems to have his own agenda and individual response to thesituation.

> The sculpture has many focal points. Thepiece must be viewed from all sides for oneto appreciate it in its entirety. Typically, aca-demic-style sculpture presents a single pointof reference; the sculpture has a clear frontand back.

RO D I N ’ S I N N OVAT I O N S

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> The hands and feet are proportionallylarge. The hands and feet of each figure arelarge and ponderous, out of proportion tothe rest of the body. Rodin communicatesthe severity of the burghers’ situation and,specifically, the weight of their decision byliterally weighing the men down, bindingthem to the ground. They are literally andfiguratively burdened by their collectivedecision to sacrifice their lives. Rodin states:

They are still questioning themselves to know ifthey have the strength to accomplish the supremesacrifice—their soul pushes them onward, buttheir feet refuse to walk. They drag themselvesalong painfully, as much because of the feeble-ness to which famine has reduced them asbecause of the terrifying nature of the sacrifice. . .

Miller and Marotta, Rodin: The B. Gerald Cantor Collection, p. !"

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> The figures reveal their vulnerabilities.The committee was looking for an expres-sion of unqualified bravery, perhaps aproud, lifted chin, an upright posture, or alook of clear determination. They were cer-tainly expecting the facial expressions of thesix burghers to correspond with one anotherand communicate a single purpose. Instead,each of Rodin’s burghers exhibits his ownresponse to his decision, and none of thesenecessarily conforms to a traditional heroicformula. Eustache de Saint-Pierre isstooped, gaunt, and elderly rather thanstraight-backed, youthful, and muscular. Heseems to hesitate instead of marching for-ward as the group’s leader. Andrieu d’Andresburies his head in his hands as though indespair, and Jean de Fiennes, with arms out-spread and mouth open, appears to bequestioning the decision. Rodin furtherexplains:

I did not hesitate to make them as thin and asweak as possible. If, in order to respect some aca-demic convention or other, I had tried to showbodies that were still agreeable to look at, I wouldhave betrayed my subject. These people, havingpassed through the privations of a long siege, nolonger have anything but skin on their bones. Themore frightful my representation of them, themore people should praise me for knowing howto show the truth of history.

I have not shown them grouped in a triumphantapotheosis; such glorification of their heroismwould not have corresponded to anything real.

Miller and Marotta, Rodin:The B. Gerald Cantor Collection, p. !"

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Rodin’s Innovations, continued

> The burghers are dressed in plain gar-ments rather than in fine, expensive cloth-ing that would identify them as leadingcitizens of their town. All the men wear sim-ple, nondescript garments, which look like akind of undergarment rather than the finerythat would have identified them as the lead-ing citizens of Calais. Although Froissart’stext explains that King Edward III orderedthe burghers to dress in plain garments, thecouncil conveyed to Rodin that if he hadshown them at an earlier moment in thenarrative, they could have been portrayed inmore stately, respectable clothing. Rodin,however, chooses to show the burgherswhen they are leaving the city and look themost vulnerable. He wants them to appearas ordinary human beings en route to a ter-rible fate.

> Their facial expressions project complexemotions. The members of the council werelooking for an unequivocal message, that is,a clear illustration of a historical event or anallegory. They expected the figures to com-municate a single, unambiguous message.In The Burghers of Calais each figure’sexpression is complex and multifaceted.About this Rodin says:

. . . I have . . . threaded them one behind the other,because in the indecision of the last inner com-bat, which ensues, between their devotion totheir cause and their fear of dying, each of them isisolated in front of his conscience. They are stillquestioning themselves to know if they have thestrength to accomplish the supreme sacrifice. . . .

Miller and Marotta, Rodin: The B. Gerald Cantor Collection, p. !"

Rodin is describing how each of the burghershas an intensely personal experience eventhough he is part of a larger group. TheBurghers of Calais reveals, through gestureand expression, the psychological complex-ity of each man’s decision.

> Rodin did not want the sculpture placedon a pedestal. He wanted the figures to beon the same level as those who viewed thesculpture. He stated:

I did not want a pedestal for these figures. Iwanted them to be placed on, even affixed to, thepaving stones of the square in front of the Hôtelde Ville in Calais so that it looked as if they wereleaving in order to go to the enemy camp. In thisway they would have been, as it were, mixed withthe daily life of the town: passersby would haveelbowed them, and they would have felt throughthis contact the emotion of the living past in theirmidst; they would have said to themselves: “Ourancestors are our neighbors and our models, andthe day when it will be granted to us to imitatetheir example, we would show that we have notdegenerated from it.” . . . But the commissioningbody understood nothing of the desires Iexpressed. They thought I was mad. . . Statueswithout a pedestal! Where had that ever beenseen before? There must be a pedestal; there wasno way of getting around it.

Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, p. #$%

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Rodin’s art bridges the nineteenth and twen-tieth centuries. On the one hand, his work is that of a traditional nineteenth-centurysculptor; the historical subject matter andits translation into monumental narrativesculpture are conventional practices of histime. On the other hand, his work points in anew direction for sculpture. Two characteris-tics of his work—fragmentation and repeti-tion—are new artistic preoccupations thatwould interest twentieth-century artists whocame after him.

In The Burghers of Calais each figure is acomposite. Rodin created plaster casts oflegs, arms, and torsos throughout his artisticcareer and used the same casts repeatedly invarious sculptures. Sometimes a particularhand or foot would recur in his work overthe course of decades. He also combinedsome of the same casts in a single sculpture.

Here, Rodin portrays six individuals whoshare some of the same features. For exam-ple, Jean d’Aire and Andrieu d’Andres havethe same head and face; those of Jacques deWiessant are a slightly different version. Also,the brothers Jacques and Pierre de Wiessantshare the same right hand, while all the fig-ures have similarly large hands and feet.

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B R I D G E TO T H E T W E N T I E T H C E N T U RY

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Other nineteenth-century artists exploredthe idea of repeating forms in a single pieceto unify a composition and create dynamicrhythms and spatial arrangements. EdgarDegas (!"#$–!%!&) composed his figures ofdancers, for example, by drawing on a trea-sury of his own images; sketches, paintings,pastels, and sculptures became the basis fornumerous variations on similar themes.Thus, a particular figure could have the headof one model and the torso of another.Degas often would use similar figures,limbs, and gestures in a single work of art.

These combinations would show hisdancers as a series of colorful forms inmotion rather than as individuals.

In Degas’s paintings, as in Rodin’s sculp-tures, the artist builds his own reality rootedin observations of his world and then trans-lated into his own particular vocabulary.Both artists establish their own forms andcontinuously redefine them so that an arm,a gesture, or a stance takes on a differentmeaning depending on its context.

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B R I D G E TO T H E T W E N T I E T H C E N T U RY ⁄ D E G A S

Edgar Degas, French(!"#$–!%!&)Dancers, Pink and GreenOil on canvas#' x '% in. ("'.' x &(.) cm)The MetropolitanMuseum of ArtH. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer,!%'%

'%.!**.$'

In photography, Eadweard Muybridge (!"#$–!%$&) and Étienne-Jules Marey (!"#$–!%$&)used stop-action photography to record figures in motion. (Rodin was one of theoriginal subscribers to Muybridge’s AnimalLocomotion, which first appeared in !""'.)Although the photographers’ objective wasscientific—to investigate how figures movein space—the resulting images are charac-terized by a repetition of movements of thesame figure.

Although in The Burghers of Calais Rodindepicts six different individuals, the similari-ties among the figures—their height, largehands and feet, plain garments, and, in thecase of Jean d’Aire and Andrieu d’Andres,identical facial features—create a visual

arrangement that unifies their actions. Thefigures illustrate the range of emotionalresponses a person might exhibit if facedwith the burghers’ predicament. WhereasMuybridge shows the same horse and riderin different stages of motion, Rodin presentssix different ways one person might respondto a particular situation.

Like Degas, Muybridge, and Marey, Rodincreated a dynamic way of portraying thehuman figure in motion. By repeating formswithin a piece he conveys a sense of move-ment and unity that challenges the tradi-tional academic model. The repetition offigures and forms both heightens the dramaof the piece and creates a complex psycho-logical dimension.

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B R I D G E TO T H E T W E N T I E T H C E N T U RY ⁄ PH OTO G R A PH Y

For many twentieth-century artists, Rodin’sgenius lies in his means of representationrather than in the stories he tells. WhereasRodin perceives his style and technique as away of conveying a message, many twenti-eth-century artists see the means or theprocess of creating as an end in itself.

During the !"#$s, avant-garde sculptorsbegan focusing on the importance of an art-work’s medium and formal elements. Anynarrative or subject matter was consideredsecondary to the primacy of the formsthemselves—the shapes in the piece, theirarrangement, and use of space. As the for-mal elements of sculpture became moreimportant to artists than narratives or alle-gorical subject matter, many rejectedRodin’s work as too rhetorical, too bound toparticular narratives, and overwhelmed byclichéd themes and emotions.

During the !"%$s, however, art historianssuch as Leo Steinberg championed thesculptor’s role as an innovator, singling outthe dynamism and energy of his forms.

In May !"%&, Curt Valentin organized anexhibition of Rodin’s work at his gallery onFifty-seventh Street. The bronze sculpturesand original plasters revealed the experi-mental nature of his sculpture and markedthe beginning of a revival of interest inRodin’s art.

In !"'# the Museum of Modern Art held a major exhibition of the artist’s work. Albert Elsen’s important monograph Rodinwas published in conjunction with thatexhibition.

The following characteristics of Rodin’ssculpture inspired many twentieth-centuryartists:

> Exaggeration of figural proportions

> Numerous focal points in a single piece

> Elimination of a pedestal

> Lack of a pyramidal structure

> Repetition of forms

> Use of fragments

> Evidence of the sculptor’s working process

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B R I D G E TO T H E T W E N T I E T H C E N T U RY ⁄ RO D I N ’ S C R I T I C S

Unlike a painting, of which there is only oneoriginal, the medium of bronze sculptureallows for more than one cast of the samepiece. During Rodin’s lifetime the sculptorallowed numerous foundries to cast his work,thus creating a plethora of some works andmuch confusion as to their authenticity.Some of the casts lacked foundry marks, whileothers were missing the artist’s signature.

In !"#$ the Rodin scholar Albert Elsen orga-nized a committee comprising art histori-ans, artists, museum curators, and artdealers that drafted a “Statement on theStandards for Sculptural Reproduction andPreventative Measures to Combat UnethicalCasting in Bronze.” This document providedbenchmarks for authenticating Rodin’s workas well as work by other nineteenth-centurysculptors. At the same time, it proposedrules to govern the production and repro-duction of sculptors’ works.

Rodin had given the Musée Rodin the rightto cast his sculpture after his death. Frenchlaw permits the production of only twelvecasts of each work by Rodin. In !"%& theFrench government established these limi-tations to ensure that the casts were authen-tic. A !"&' law stated that the first eight castswould be available for purchase by individu-als and the last four would go to culturalinstitutions.

Presently, there are at least eleven casts ofThe Burghers of Calais including the Metro-politan Museum’s !"'% cast. The locations ofthe ten other known casts are:

> Basel, Kunstmuseum Basel; acquired in !"$'

> Brussels, Mariemont Park; commissionedin !"(%–& for the Warocqué Collection

> Calais, square of the Hôtel de Ville; the first bronze cast

> Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek;commissioned by Carl Jacobsen in !"()

> London, gardens of the Houses of Parliament; purchased by the British government in !"!!

> Los Angeles, Norton Simon, Inc. Museum of Art

> Paris, Musée Rodin

> Philadelphia, Rodin Museum

> Tokyo, National Museum of Western Art;purchased by the Japanese governmentin !"%"

> Washington, D.C., Hirshhorn Museumand Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution

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C A S T I N G RO D I N ’ S S C U L P T U R E

!"#$ November !", birth of François-AugusteRené Rodin in Paris to Jean-Baptiste Rodin,age thirty-eight, and Marie Cheffer, age thirty-four.

!"%# Enters the Petite École (the École ImpérialeSpéciale de Dessin et de Mathématiques), aschool for the training of decorative artists.

!"%% Begins modeling clay. Studies at the Louvre.

!"%& Leaves the Petite École. Fails the entranceexam of the Grande École (École des Beaux-Arts) forfeiting the prestige that the Écoleaccords its students. (Graduates of the Écolereceived the important commissions for pub-lic sculptures.) Works as a statuary mason forvarious decorators. Employed by the architectHaussmann in his reconstruction of Parisunder Napoleon III.

!"'( Death of his sister, Maria, age twenty-five.Rodin enters the Order of the Fathers of theHoly Sacrament as Brother Augustine.

!"') Leaves the Order.

!"'#–'% Studies with the animal sculptorAntoine-Louis Barye (!#$%–!&#%) at the Muséed’Histoire Naturelle. Has various decorative artjobs. Meets and begins working for the sculp-tor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (!&"'–!&&#).First studio on rue Le Brun. The sculpturecalled Man with a Broken Nose is rejected bythe Salon. Meets Rose Beuret (!&''–!$!#), whobecomes his companion.

!"'' Son Auguste-Eugène Beuret is born on January !&.

!"&$ Franco-Prussian War. Drafted into theNational Guard. Attains the rank of corporal.Discharged for myopia.

!"&! Works with Carrier-Belleuse in Brussels.Death of his mother. Has his first exhibition in Belgium.

!"&) Begins collaboration with the sculptorAntoine van Rasbourgh.

!"&# Involved in various architectural decorationprojects in Brussels.

The first Impressionist exhibition takes place.

!"&%–&' Travels to Italy and leaves Rose in charge of his studio in Brussels. StudiesMichelangelo’s works.

!"&& Lives in Paris with Rose Beuret. Exhibits TheAge of Bronze,* called The Vanquished. BeginsSaint John the Baptist Preaching and createsWalking Man.* Partnership with van Ras-bourgh ends.

!""$ Saint John the Baptist Preaching (which islarger than lifesize) and The Age of Bronze areexhibited together at the Salon. The Frenchstate commissions The Gates of Hell. CreatesThe Thinker.* Finishes Adam.*

!""! Works on the Gates of Hell, Eve,* and theFallen Caryatid with Stone.* Exhibits Adamand Saint John the Baptist Preaching at theParis Salon.

!"") Meets Camille Claudel, who becomes hismistress. She is also his model and works as asculptor in his studio. Creates Bust of VictorHugo.* His father dies.

!""# Moves to a larger studio at !!#, rue de Vaugi-rard. The Calais municipality commissionsThe Burghers of Calais.* Works on the Gates ofHell and The Burghers of Calais. Submits firstmaquette for The Burghers of Calais.

!""% Signs contract for The Burghers of Calaiscommission.

!""& Rodin made Chevalier of the Legion ofHonor. Exhibits The Kiss (bronze) and threefigures from The Burghers of Calais at theGalerie Georges Petit, Paris.

!""* Joint exhibition of Rodin’s and Monet’s workat the Galerie Georges Petit. Rodin showsthirty-six works, including The Burghers ofCalais. The French government commissionsThe Monument to Victor Hugo. First rejectionof the Victor Hugo sculpture.

The Eiffel Tower is completed.

!"*$ Second rejection of the Victor Hugo project. Rodin works on a third Victor Hugosculpture.

!"*! Works on a monument to Balzac.

!"*) Rodin becomes the president of the sculp-ture section of the Société Nationale desBeaux-Arts, Paris. The subscription for themonument to the burghers of Calais isrenewed, having been inactive since !&&(.Rodin’s health declines.

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C H RO N O LO G Y O F T H E A RT I S T ’ S L I F E

!"#$ Travels in the South of France. MeetsCézanne at Monet’s house at Giverny. In Calaisvisits the site of The Burghers of Calais monu-ment. Buys a house at Meudon.

!"#% Moves to his new house, the Villa des Bril-liants at Meudon. The Burghers of Calais isinstalled in the Place de Richelieu, Calais, on afive-foot-high pedestal.

!"#& Exhibits plaster cast of The Monument toVictor Hugo. The Metropolitan Museum of Artacquires its first Rodin sculpture, The Bust ofSaint John the Baptist.*

!"#" The Société des Gens de Lettres rejects thesculpture of Balzac. Much negative pressagainst Rodin. Ends relationship with CamilleClaudel. Exhibits plaster of Balzac and The Kiss(marble) at the Salon de la Société Nationale,Paris.

!#'' Opening of the Rodin Pavilion on the Placede l’Alma, near the Exposition Universelle,Paris. Rodin exhibits one hundred and fiftyworks.

!#'! Exhibits at the Venice Biennale and at theThird Berlin Secession.

!#'( Travels to Prague for an exhibition of hiswork. Meets the German poet Rainer MariaRilke and the American dancer Isadora Duncan.

!#') Named Commander of the Legion of Honor.Becomes president of the International Soci-ety of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers fol-lowing Whistler’s death. Exhibitions in Berlin,London, Venice, and New York.

!#'$ Exhibits large plaster and small bronze ofThe Thinker at the International Society ofPainters, Sculptors, and Engravers exhibition,London. Exhibits large bronze of The Thinkerat the Salon de la Société Nationale, Paris.

!#'% Rilke becomes Rodin’s secretary. Exhibits atthe Autumn Salon for the first time.

!#'* The Thinker is placed in front of the Pan-théon. Rodin dismisses Rilke as his secretary.

!#'& Reconciliation with Rilke. Exhibitions inLondon, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, Venice, NewYork, and Budapest.

!#'" The king of England, Edward VII, visitsRodin at Meudon. Rodin moves to the HôtelBiron, rue de Varenne. Exhibitions in Berlin,Florence, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Liverpool,and Vienna.

!#'# Inauguration of The Monument to VictorHugo in the gardens of the Palais Royal.

!#!' The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquirestwelve works by Rodin.

!#!! Travels to London to choose the site for TheBurghers of Calais. The French state buys theHôtel Biron for the Ministère d’InstructionPublique et des Beaux-Arts.

!"!# The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Rodincollection opens.

!#!) Camille Claudel confined to an asylum. TheBurghers of Calais is placed in the ParliamentGardens in London.

!#!$ Rodin writes a book titled The Cathedrals ofFrance, assisted by Charles Maurice.

Germany declares war on France.

!#!* The National Assembly votes to establish aMusée Rodin in the Hôtel Biron.

!#!& Rodin marries Rose Beuret at Meudon onJanuary !". Rose dies of pneumonia on Febru-ary #$. Rodin dies on November #%. His funeralis held on November !$. Rodin is buried atMeudon near the grave of Rose Beuret, underthe statue of The Thinker.

!#!" The Musée Rodin is officially approved.

!#($ The Burghers of Calais is relocated to thesquare in front of the town hall at ground levelwithout the fence that had surrounded it at theprevious location.

* These works of art may be viewed at The Metro-politan Museum of Art.

For a more detailed chronology, see Miller andMarotta, Rodin: The B. Gerald Cantor Collection.

| !"

Ambrosini, Lynne, and Michelle Facos. Rodin: TheCantor Gift to the Brooklyn Museum. New York:The Brooklyn Museum, !"#$.

Butler, Ruth. Rodin: The Shape of Genius. NewHaven and London: Yale University Press, !""%.

———, ed. Rodin in Perspective. Englewood Cliffs:Prentice-Hall, Inc., !"#&.

———, Jeanine Parisier Plottel, and Jane MayoRoos. Rodin’s Monument to Victor Hugo. MerrellHolberton Publishers London in association withthe Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, !""#.

Elsen, Albert E. In Rodin’s Studio: A PhotographicRecord of Sculpture in the Making. Ithaca: CornellUniversity Press, !"#&.

———. Rodin. New York: The Museum of ModernArt, !"'%.

———. Rodin’s Thinker and the Dilemmas ofModern Public Sculpture. New Haven and London:Yale University Press, !"#(.

———, ed. Rodin Rediscovered. Washington:National Gallery of Art, !"#!.

Krauss, Rosalind E. The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths. Cambridge,Mass., and London: The MIT Press, !"#$.

Miller, Joan Vita, and Gary Marotta. Rodin: The B. Gerald Cantor Collection. New York: The Metro-politan Museum of Art, !"#'. Published in conjunc-tion with the exhibition held at The MetropolitanMuseum of Art, April !"–June !(, !"#'.

Steinberg, Leo. Other Criteria: Confrontationswith Twentieth-Century Art. New York: OxfordUniversity Press, !"$).

Tancock, John L. The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin:The Collection of the Rodin Museum Philadelphia.Philadelphia: David R. Godine in association withThe Philadelphia Museum of Art, !"$'.

Varnedoe, Kirk. A Fine Disregard: What MakesModern Art Modern. New York: Harry N. Abrams,Inc., Publishers, !""&.

Vilain, Jacques, et al. Rodin at the Musée Rodin.London: Scala Books, !""$.

Vincent, Clare. “Rodin at The MetropolitanMuseum of Art: A History of the Collection.” TheMetropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin %# (spring!"#!).

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B I B L I O G R A PH Y