Rodin_2011

17. Nude woman raising her right leg (Femme nue à la jambe droite soulevée)

c. 1890 – 95 Graphite, stump, watercolor and gouache on watermarked laid paper 7 x 4 ½ inches ( 17 . 7 x 11 . 5 cm)

provenance Guérinière, Château de Creste; Paris, purchased from Galerie Claude Aubrey; 1980 ; Private Collection. This drawing of nude woman with the right leg raised was probably not done from life, even though the refined lines of the left breast and of the lower body seems to indicate this, but was copied from a rapid sketch which was then used as an under-drawing. Rodin vigorously intensified the feline face of the model with a black pencil, as well as the silhouette of the body and the white drape, while maintaining the quality of silkiness in her skin with the technique of stumping. The rough crayon in the background and the face tends to hide her face and her golden hair, still visible in a dim light. With this process, he enhances the center part of the body, the breast, the belly and the unveiled genitals, which become the real subject of this work. In the middle of the 1890 ’s Rodin was experimenting: first he made quick sketches from moving models; then he drew young models from life who were posing partially nude and with minimal costumes (mantilla, masks, helmets, antique dresses, etc.); he used all the “dead” moments (undressing, dressing) as subjects of great interest. These works are called Rodin’s “transitional” drawings; and our Femme nue à la jambe droite soulevée is a good example. They differ from the “black” drawings made during the previous period; the subject basks in the colors of the dawn, warm and full of brightness, where bright pink and fuchsia are predominant, as well as yellow for the hair. The name “transitional” is somewhat inaccurate in Rodin’s graphic work. The free use of color and wash to highlight his drawings would become a defining technique to which he would often return. In 1899 , Rodin submitted a “transitional” drawing as the frontispiece for Octave Mirbeau’s Jardin des Supplices : a women undressing, with washes done in pink and yellow watercolor, showing that this style was of primary importance for Rodin.