The Humanistic Tradition, Book 5 Romanticism, Realism, and the Nineteenth-Century World

Black

129

TJ123-8-2009 LK VWD0011 Tradition Humanistic 6th Edition W:220mm x H:292mm 175L 115 Stora Enso M/A Magenta (V)

CHAPTER 31 The Move Toward Modernism 129

Book5 129

Rodin had captured a sense of organic movement by recre-

ating the fleeting effects of light on form. He heightened

the contrasts between polished and roughly textured sur-

faces, deliberately leaving parts of the piece unfinished.

“Sculpture,” declared Rodin, “is quite simply the art of

depression and protuberance.”

But Rodin moved beyond naturalistic representation.

Moving toward modernism, he used expressive distortion to

convey a mood or mental disposition. He renounced formal

idealization and gave his figures a nervous energy and an

emotional intensity that he found lacking in both Classical

and Renaissance sculpture. “The sculpture of antiquity,” he

explained, “sought the logic of the human body; I seek its

psychology.” In this quest, Rodin was joined by his close

friend, the American dancer Isadora Duncan (1878–1927).

Duncan introduced a language of physical expression char-

acterized by personalized gestures and improvised move-

ments that were often fierce, earthy, and passionate (Figure

31. 22 ). Insisting that the rules of classical ballet produced

Figure 31.21 AUGUSTE RODIN,

The Age of Bronze, 1876. Bronze,

251 ⁄ 2  95 ⁄ 16  71 ⁄ 2 in. The influence

of Rodin’s teacher, Jean-Baptiste

Carpeaux, can be detected in a

comparison of this sculpture with

Carpeaux’s The Dance, executed some

eight years earlier (see Figure 29.20).

Figure 31. 22 Isadora Duncan in La Marseillaise. Notorious for flouting

the rules of academic dance as well as those of middle-class morality,

the California-born Duncan achieved greater success in Europe than in

the United States. She adopted the signature affectation of wearing

scarves, one of which accidentally strangled her in a freak car mishap.

BK5_001-141.indd 129BK5_001-141.indd 129 04/12/2009 8:58 AM04/12/2009 8:58 AM