Archive, Documentation or Works of Art?
Rodin’s Photographic Collection

From the 1880s onward, Auguste Rodin had no hesitation in calling on professional photographers to help meet the needs of critics and journalists who required illustrations for their articles. The sculptor had just received a commission for a monumental doorway destined for the future Musée des Arts Décoratifs and was spending every working hour on what was to become La Porte de l’Enfer. At his request, Charles Bodmer, Victor Pannelier, Freuler, and a number of anonymous artists took photographs of the works in progress, the clay figures he modelled in his studio at the Dépôt des Marbres. Over time, Rodin became increasingly involved in the way his sculptures were represented in the press, on whom he imposed an amateur photographer, Eugène Druet, in 1896. Druet’s prints, conjuring up the monochrome, misty canvases of Eugène Carrière, were certainly far removed from classical canons, which tended to favor a clear, precise image. In 1903, Druet opened his own art gallery. This meant that he could no longer devote time to Rodin, who turned instead to Jacques-Ernest Bulloz, a professional photographer. This period coincided with the emergence of photography’s first aesthetic movement, Pictorialism. When amateur photographers started turning up on his doorstep, Rodin listened to their propositions. He was particularly attracted to the work of Edward Steichen, Stephen Haweis and Henry Coles, and Jean Limet. They interpreted Rodin’s sculptures, making use of techniques such as gum bichromate, carbon, and platinum printing. We shall evoke the evolution of this collection as well as the endless debate concerning its status: archive, documentation or works of art?

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Hélène Pinet is Head of Research, Archives, Library, and Documentation in Charge of the Photographic Collection at the Rodin Museum. She is the author of several publications about sculpture and photography: Rodin sculpteur et ses photographes (éditions Sers, 1985), Rodin, les mains du génie (Gallimard, 1988), Camille Claudel, le génie est comme un miroir (Gallimard, 2003). She has been curator and co-curator of several exhibitions: La photographie pictorialiste (musée Rodin, 1993), Le photographe et son modèle (Bibliothèque nationale, 1997), Éros, Rodin et Picasso (Bâle, Beyeler Foundation, 2006), Rodin et la Photographie (musée Rodin, 2007), Isadora Duncan, une sculpture vivante (musée Bourdelle, 2009), Henry Moore l’atelier (musée Rodin, 2010) and Mapplethorpe / Rodin (musée Rodin, 2014), Entre sculpture et photographie, Huit artistes chez Rodin (musée Rodin, 2016).

Date
Thu, 12/01/2016 - 11:30
Weight
2