The Trouble with Rodin

Rodin Museum

November 3: Auguste Rodin created the Impressionist version of sculpture: emotional, rough, quickly formed. He wasn't afraid to express the ugly side of his feeling such as with the Burghers of Calais or his many versions of Balzac.

So why wasn't I moved as much as I should have been by the Rodin Museum?

Overexposure.

The Thinker at the Norton Simon Museum

I'd seen most of his sculptures before. L.A. County? Balzacs. Norton Simon?  Burghers of Calais, Balzac again and The Thinker. Metropolitan Museum of Art? Burghers of Calais again, Gates of Hell.  Orsay Museum, The Gates of Hell again.

Burghers of Calais at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

He was the Henry Ford of bronzes -- mass-producing and selling all his work. While he certainly deserved to earn all he could from his art, and he did break out of the formal conventions of his era, how many times can one see the Burghers of Calais before saying "Enough!"

Gates of Hell at The Orsay Museum

Anthony enjoyed the museum more than I did, taking pictures of all the maquettes and versions of lovers and hands and women that Rodin sculpted. At least the plaster molds and trials were original.

Finally, some original sculptures at the Rodin Museum.

As for me, I'm glad the museum was a freebie courtesy of the Museum Pass. Otherwise, I would've been annoyed at having paid to see stuff I'd seen many times before.

The Orsay is Okay

November 3: Though ensconced within the elaborate facade of a Victorian rail station, the Orsay Museum boasts an airy, white, light-filled interior that pulls it into the 21st century. Rick Steves' Paris guidebook (more info on the right) guided us through sculpture, painting and decorative works from the 19th and early 20th century, failing only at the Impressionist section, which had been moved and reorganized.

Exhibits

One of my favorite exhibits was a scale model of Paris in the 19th century, under a thick, transparent floor. I was afraid of crossing it for fear of breaking the floor, but Anthony walked across it immediately, as did some kids. It was perfectly safe but I kept off.

 

The model was guarded by yet another scale construction: a cutaway view of the Opera Garnier, so you could see everything from the elaborate lobby, to the seats, to the  stage mechanisms.

We were disappointed in not being able to find Renoir's masterpiece Bal du Moulin de la Galette, especially since we'd eaten at that very location recently. Apparently, it was on tour in Germany.

Not at the Orsay because it was on tour.

 Surprises

One pleasant surprise was a collection of Art Nouveau furniture including entire rooms such as this dining room by Alexandre Charpentier.

A temporary exhibit introduced me to the paintings of Jean-Léon Gérôme, who liked to paint and sculpt theatrical historical and fantasy scenes. If he'd been alive today, he might be working for a video game company or as a movie matte painter. His most famous work is Police Verso, which traveled all the way from the Phoenix Art Museum.

The Orsay is Okay: Corpus Christi Lives

November 3: One of my first plays at the now-defunct Rude Guerrilla theater was Corpus Christi,  in which playwright Terence McNally explained the story of Christ with gay themes and set it in modern Texas. The following painting, L'Ecole de Platon (Plato's School) by Jean Delville brought back memories of that play.

It's quite interesting that Plato has exactly twelve apostles...I mean students. At 8.5-ft high by 19.8-ft. wide, the painting grabbed our attention the minute we walked into the room.