I saw The Kiss by Rodin for the first time a week ago. It took my breath away!
When I first walked into the Rodin Museum with my daughter in Philadelphia I did not know what to expect. Small vestibule. Admission. An iPod as a tour guide. I walked in and turned the corner and saw a woman prostrate with her back and bottom facing me in white. I was amazed by her back. You could see nothing, but everything. You could feel her cringe.
I turn another corner and it's there. The Kiss. I am transformed. Smooth. Turning. White. Romance. Passion. Sadness. That moment right before submission to your partner. [Francesca] did not dive in... I did. Amazement. Fascination. A symphony plays in the background. I took many pictures of the sculpture. From all angles. Rodin wanted you to look at it from all sides. Then I begin to wonder about the lovers story. (I didn't know her name was Francesca at that time or I did from the iPod guide?)
So then I actually listen to the iPod guide and it tells me about Paolo and Francesca and how she fell in love with him. The brother of her husband. It tells how Rodin initially intended the piece for the lower right hand corner for The Gates Of Hell. A project he was working on. That did not agree with what I saw before me. Passion. [Syn. desire, hunger, craving, lust, urge, ache... all view-able before me in Rodin's work.] As time passed, Rodin removed the piece from The Gates of Hell and made it a stand alone piece. It didn't fit. (Yes, I understand that sentiment.)
Raw emotion and passion are emotions elicited from The Kiss on first sight. I also heard a symphony of lovely music. Summer. Four Seasons. Vivaldi. His hands lightly resting on her leg. Doesn't that drive you crazy? For some reason, earlier that day, I purchased a sketch book. I drew my daughter as we were sitting down to rest. She's an artist. That's what she is studying in college. Her comment to me, "I didn't know you did that." My response, "it's been too many years." It came back to me. Like riding a bike. I sat down at this point on a bench in front of The Kiss and started to sketch. Minutes had passed, but it seemed much longer. The drawing was slow at first, but then it continued. Erase. Re-draw. ("That's why there are erasers on pencils kid." ~ CJF)
The pictures I took are being developed and there will be more sketches. I will go back to the Rodin Museum and be captivated again and again. Life returns and it is good! Summer will turn into fall and life, love will be found again.
Links:
Song - John Legend - All of Me - reminds me of this work
BBC Documentary - The Private Life of a Masterpiece - The Kiss - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0UJ5BZOd_A
Rodin-web - http://rodin-web.org/works/1880_kiss.htm
More History:
Paolo and Francesca in their first kiss. Before they could kiss, they were slain by Francesca's husband and Paolo's brother Giovanni and doomed to hell.
In 1275, Francesca, daughter of Guida Vecchia da Polenta de Ravina, is arranged to marry Giovanni Malatesta, Lord of Rimini. There were political reasons for the union. Giovanni was physically deformed. Francesca falls in love with Paolo, Giovanni's younger brother. Giovanni does kill, stabs, Francesca and Paolo in a jealous fit of rage when he sees them kissing. This is a huge scandal in Florence when it happens. Dante is 17 at the time. Francesca leaves behind a 9 year old daughter. Paolo, also married, leaves behind 3 children and his wife.
The piece comes from Dante's Inferno, Canto V. (I have tried reading the Inferno, I have it on my phone, but find it quite hard to understand.) The lovers go to the second circle of hell where sinners are punished for all eternity.
No doubt Camille Claudel, Rodin's mistress is the muse for Francesca? No, according to the BBC documentary. The work was started 2 years before their affair did. The two Italian sisters Anna and Adelle Abruzzezzi, with Adele being the most likely candidate as the model for the kiss.
Originally the piece was designed for the commission of The Gates of Hell, but Rodin finally realizes the piece does not fit into the composition. A 29 inch bronze version was first made for the project. It was displayed at the World's Colombian Exposition for display. It was considered risque for the late 1880's and was displayed in a separate room and view-able only by appointment. Considered Eroticism.
The French government commissioned a larger, marble version of the sculpture to be made in 1888. Jean Turkin, Rodin's assistant, enlarges the piece into marble; but does not finish it. He leaves Rodin's studio before it is finished. Rodin finishes it.
Initially displayed in the Salon de Societe Nationale de Beaux Arts in 1898. In 1900 moved to the Musee de Luxemborg and in 1919 to the Musee Rodin in Paris, where it resides today. There is a copy in the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, where I viewed, was transformed, by the piece.
When I first walked into the Rodin Museum with my daughter in Philadelphia I did not know what to expect. Small vestibule. Admission. An iPod as a tour guide. I walked in and turned the corner and saw a woman prostrate with her back and bottom facing me in white. I was amazed by her back. You could see nothing, but everything. You could feel her cringe.
I turn another corner and it's there. The Kiss. I am transformed. Smooth. Turning. White. Romance. Passion. Sadness. That moment right before submission to your partner. [Francesca] did not dive in... I did. Amazement. Fascination. A symphony plays in the background. I took many pictures of the sculpture. From all angles. Rodin wanted you to look at it from all sides. Then I begin to wonder about the lovers story. (I didn't know her name was Francesca at that time or I did from the iPod guide?)
So then I actually listen to the iPod guide and it tells me about Paolo and Francesca and how she fell in love with him. The brother of her husband. It tells how Rodin initially intended the piece for the lower right hand corner for The Gates Of Hell. A project he was working on. That did not agree with what I saw before me. Passion. [Syn. desire, hunger, craving, lust, urge, ache... all view-able before me in Rodin's work.] As time passed, Rodin removed the piece from The Gates of Hell and made it a stand alone piece. It didn't fit. (Yes, I understand that sentiment.)
Raw emotion and passion are emotions elicited from The Kiss on first sight. I also heard a symphony of lovely music. Summer. Four Seasons. Vivaldi. His hands lightly resting on her leg. Doesn't that drive you crazy? For some reason, earlier that day, I purchased a sketch book. I drew my daughter as we were sitting down to rest. She's an artist. That's what she is studying in college. Her comment to me, "I didn't know you did that." My response, "it's been too many years." It came back to me. Like riding a bike. I sat down at this point on a bench in front of The Kiss and started to sketch. Minutes had passed, but it seemed much longer. The drawing was slow at first, but then it continued. Erase. Re-draw. ("That's why there are erasers on pencils kid." ~ CJF)
The pictures I took are being developed and there will be more sketches. I will go back to the Rodin Museum and be captivated again and again. Life returns and it is good! Summer will turn into fall and life, love will be found again.
Links:
Song - John Legend - All of Me - reminds me of this work
BBC Documentary - The Private Life of a Masterpiece - The Kiss - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0UJ5BZOd_A
Rodin-web - http://rodin-web.org/works/1880_kiss.htm
More History:
Paolo and Francesca in their first kiss. Before they could kiss, they were slain by Francesca's husband and Paolo's brother Giovanni and doomed to hell.
In 1275, Francesca, daughter of Guida Vecchia da Polenta de Ravina, is arranged to marry Giovanni Malatesta, Lord of Rimini. There were political reasons for the union. Giovanni was physically deformed. Francesca falls in love with Paolo, Giovanni's younger brother. Giovanni does kill, stabs, Francesca and Paolo in a jealous fit of rage when he sees them kissing. This is a huge scandal in Florence when it happens. Dante is 17 at the time. Francesca leaves behind a 9 year old daughter. Paolo, also married, leaves behind 3 children and his wife.
The piece comes from Dante's Inferno, Canto V. (I have tried reading the Inferno, I have it on my phone, but find it quite hard to understand.) The lovers go to the second circle of hell where sinners are punished for all eternity.
No doubt Camille Claudel, Rodin's mistress is the muse for Francesca? No, according to the BBC documentary. The work was started 2 years before their affair did. The two Italian sisters Anna and Adelle Abruzzezzi, with Adele being the most likely candidate as the model for the kiss.
Originally the piece was designed for the commission of The Gates of Hell, but Rodin finally realizes the piece does not fit into the composition. A 29 inch bronze version was first made for the project. It was displayed at the World's Colombian Exposition for display. It was considered risque for the late 1880's and was displayed in a separate room and view-able only by appointment. Considered Eroticism.
The French government commissioned a larger, marble version of the sculpture to be made in 1888. Jean Turkin, Rodin's assistant, enlarges the piece into marble; but does not finish it. He leaves Rodin's studio before it is finished. Rodin finishes it.
Initially displayed in the Salon de Societe Nationale de Beaux Arts in 1898. In 1900 moved to the Musee de Luxemborg and in 1919 to the Musee Rodin in Paris, where it resides today. There is a copy in the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, where I viewed, was transformed, by the piece.
No comments:
Post a Comment