Rodin_2011

Rodin and Photography

From 1877 to his death in 1917 , Rodin actively supervised a number of different photographers whom he engaged to document his work. Like many artists of his era, Rodin saw photography not as a rival or threat, but as a valuable tool for documenting and disseminating his work. Until around 1890 , the photograph served Rodin principally as an aid in the studio, as he hired photographers to document various stages of works in progress. He may well have been the first sculptor to use photography as a means of capturing the transformation of a work from its initial stages in clay and plaster to completion and realization in permanent materials. It was not until the 1890 s that Rodin began to take advantage of photographic reproduction as a means of disseminating and promoting his work to a wider public. He developed an important relationship with the entrepreneur and amateur photographer Eugène Druet, who supervised Rodin’s famous retrospective exhibition at the Place d’Alma in 1900 , which was timed to coincide with the Exposition Universelle . Rodin authorized Druet to display and sell his photographs of Rodin’s work at this exhibition, but their relationship ended in around 1901 . In the late 1890 s, Rodin began to work extensively with Jacques-Ernest Bulloz (1858–1942) , who enjoyed an exclusive contract from 1903 as the reproductive photographer of Rodin’s works. As with Druet, Bulloz’s work for Rodin was completed according to the sculptor’s extensive instructions. Rodin had the right to review all proofs, and frequently corrected or even destroyed plates that did not meet his standards. Many edited proofs exist, with Rodin’s marks in wash and pencil. Rodin would sign the approved photographs either with a transparent stencil, that he would overlay on the glass negative, or by engraving it on the mount. The following photographs, signed by Rodin, were shot and printed by Jacques-Ernest Bulloz, and are carbon prints made from 1903 to 1913 , measuring approximately 14 x 10 ¼ in. ( 3 6 x 2 6 cm). They were acquired directly from Rodin by the dancer Loie Fuller, in around 1914 – 1915 . Fuller had an extensive collection of sculpture by Rodin, which was later acquired by Ada Spreckles of San Francisco. This group was exhibited at Nevill Keating Gallery in London in 2005 . sources Geoffry Batchen, Tobia Bezzola, Roxan Marcoci, The Original Copy: The Photography of Sculpture, 1839 to Today (excat), New York, Museum of Modern Art, 2010 , pp. 85 – 87 ; Nevill Keating Pictures, Rodin, (excat), London, 2005 . Hélène Pinet, Rodin et la Photographie (excat), Paris, Musée Rodin, 199 6.