Rodin_2011

24. Female Figure Squatting, Seen from the Front (Femme accroupie de face) c. 1900 Graphite on lined Japan paper 11 5 ⁄ 8 x 7 7 ⁄ 8 inches ( 29 . 5 x. 19 . 3 cm) Signed at the bottom right: A. Ro(din) .

This rapidly executed drawing of a crouching woman is an excellent example of the technique used by Rodin beginning in the mid 1890 ’s, whereby the models, often either actresses or female dancers, would freely move around in the studio. The drawings that resulted from these sessions were not classic nudes or studio studies, but portrayals of women simultaneously aggressive and humorous, crouching, pointing their fingers and sticking their tongues out to the audience. During these sessions, Rodin only had eyes for his models and would deliberately not look at the sheet of paper as he drew. The result is a surprisingly accurate synthesis of the whole body, in which proportions are expressively distorted and muscle forms altered. The Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote what is perhaps the best description of these drawings: But finally the day gives birth to these strange instantaneous documents, of that which passes imperceptibly. Rodin suspected that if he could summarize the insignificant moves of the model, unaware of being observed, that they would contain an unexpectedly intense expression, because we are not used to giving them active and deep attention. Keeping the model in sight and applying to the paper his swift and experienced hand, he drew a multitude of gestures previously unobserved, always neglected, and the strength of expressions emanating were immense. Such ensembles of movements never before seen or discerned as part of the form of the whole, were outlined thus, and contained everything there that was immediate, dynamic and passionate in a truly sensual life. 1 By executing the drawing without looking directly at the sheet, Rodin impregnated the profiles and reliefs of the human body with meaning, as they evolved in front of him. He was then able to transcribe to paper the shape that he had observed in an instant, thanks to his exceptional visual memory acquired during his years of training at the Petite Ecole . The result appears in the form of drawings that were revolutionary at that time. 1

1 . R. M. Rilke, Œuvres en prose. Récits et essais , Paris, Gallimard, coll. “La Pléiade” Paris, 1993 , p. 876 .