Rodin: A Magnificent Obsession

On Thursday, I made my first trip to The Plains Art Museum with Tickpuppy to take a guided tour of Auguste Rodin's famous bronze sculptures in a visiting exhibit called Rodin: A Magnificent Obsession -- and it was amazing! If you live in the Fargo/Moorhead area, there is only one more Rodin Gallery Talk and Tour left, and it is on May 29th at 6:30 PM. However, the exhibit will be at our local museum until July 13th. So even if you don't make it for the guided tour, you can go and check it out on your own. So get out there and go!

It was amazing to see some of his most famous sculptures both in life size sculptures and also in smaller models called maquettes. And seeing a mini version of my old friend The Thinker took me back to seeing it for real when I was in Paris years ago!

The guided tour lasted for about an hour and was full of very interesting tidbits regarding one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century. Like other artists of his time, Rodin constantly struggled to showcase his talent and abilities amid many harsh critics. I was very taken with the story of Rodin's Monument to Balzac. Rodin was commissioned to create this monument of the French writer Honore de Balzac forty years after the famous writer had died. This meant that Rodin had to study photographs for years in order to compose a physical portrayal of Balzac. When he finally finished it and presented Balzac to the public, he received very harsh reviews for his work. This affected him so much that he never cast the final sculpture during his lifetime.

Other personal favorites of this exhibit for me were The Kiss, The Gates of Hell (which Rodin was unable to finish during his lifetime and only pictured and modeled in mini form in the exhibit), The Mask of the Man with the Broken Nose, and Rodin's sculptures of hands (The Cathedral and Large Left Hand of a Pianist.)

The picture of Rodin that was displayed outside the exhibits was full of character. Tickpuppy took out his cellphone camera so we could take pictures of ourselves beside this great sculptor. He took a very nice picture of me with all of the words in the background. When it was my turn to take his picture, I ended up accidentally cutting off the words on the wall but thought it was better to capture his pose. *grin* We had a great time!

If you have a chance, go and support the museum and see this exhibit! It isn't very often that we have such an opportunity to see such a wonderful collection in our state. It is definitely a great way to spend an afternoon or evening.

To learn more about Rodin, visit these sites:
The Plains Art Museum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Rodin

A quote to leave you with:

"I see the truth, not only what is on the surface."

~Rodin