Rodin: The Man and His Art with Leaves from His Note-book

Description

Rodin: The Man and His Art, with Leaves from His Note-book — Judith Cladel's Rodin: The Man and His Art is an intimate portrait of Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) by someone who knew him personally. Cladel — a French novelist and friend of the sculptor — writes with warmth and firsthand authority about the creator of The Thinker, The Kiss, and The Gates of Hell. Translated into English in 1917 by S. K. Star, this edition also includes precious "leaves" from Rodin's own note-book: the master's private reflections on art, nature, and the sculptor's craft.

Together, Cladel's warm biography and Rodin's own words offer a rare double portrait — the man as seen by a devoted friend, and the artist as revealed by himself. That pairing is what makes this edition special. Cladel can tell you what Rodin was like in the studio, how he talked about his work, and what his friends saw in him; the notebook leaves then let Rodin answer for himself, in short reflections on what sculpture is for, how nature teaches the artist, and what a lifetime of shaping clay and marble taught him about patience. Reading the two together, you get both the public genius and the private worker — the man who made The Thinker, and the mind that thought its way there.

A rare firsthand account from within Rodin's circle, this is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the genius behind the marble — in the words of one who was there, and of the master himself. Buy the ebook at a discount from Tellebook.

For working sculptors and artists, the notebook leaves are the most practical part of the book. Rodin's reflections on modeling, on learning from nature rather than from rules, and on the patience a large work demands read like advice from a master class that never closed.

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