Purple Magazine
— S/S 2011 issue 15
The world of sex by Auguste Rodin
THE WORLD OF SEX by AUGUSTE RODIN
photography by TERRY RICHARDSON and OLIVIER ZAHM
text by JEFF RIAN
The small Rodin museum is a must-see tourist stop in Paris. But within its walls, behind a façade of mythological symbolism, is a world of sex. Many of Rodin’s works express a beautiful, unrepressed, and violent sexuality, eternally frozen in cast bronze and voluptuous marble. Rodin didn’t so much make monumental sculptures as he did a massive array of deeply expressive fragments and portraits. He transformed real life in a manner inspired by Michelangelo, while freeing sculpture from the fantastic aspects of mythology and allegory. He had a genius for modeling in clay. But his sculptures were harshly criticized for the blatant psychology and sexuality of their figures, ones that reeked of life, not fantasy. Rodin preferred models he met on the street to professionals, and with the force of his large hands he imprinted his preference for naturalism and raw emotion. The material eroticism of many of Rodin’s figures disrupted bourgeois expectations. But once appreciated, he advanced sculpture, at a time when Europe was being disrupted by the machinery, violence, and erotic abandon of the modern world.
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The Storm Photo by Oliver Zahm
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The Earth and the Moon, 1899 Photo by Oliver Zahm
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Terry Richardson shooting The Wave, 1900 Photo by Oliver Zahm
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Nymphs Playing, between 1900 - 1910 Photo by Oliver Zahm
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The Kiss, 1882 Photo by Terry Richardson
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Iris, 1895 Photo by Terry Richardson
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Lovers' Hands, 1904 Photo by Oliver Zahm
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Danaid, 1985 Photo by Terry Richardson
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Paolo and Francesca, 1905 Photo by Oliver Zahm
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Fish-Woman, date unknown Photo by Terry Richardson
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The Little Water Fairy, 1903 Photo by Oliver Zahm
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The Illusion, Sister of Icarus, 1896 Photo by Terry Richardson
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The Centauress, 1887 - 1889 Photo by Oliver Zahm
