The Prodigal Son By Rodin Essay Research

The Prodigal Son By Rodin Essay, Research Paper

The Prodigal SonNext time you venture to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, go and have a look at The Prodigal Son. Study it for a few minutes; take a deep breath,stop thinking, and try to feel with your emotions. I felt sorrow and then pity as I quickly moved from compassion to empathy. Mixed with that pity was the relief that I do not know the tension and emotional pain the figure projects. Earth hath no sorrow that heaven cannot heal Thomas Moore . Auguste Rodin embodied these words in his work entitled The Prodigal Son. Source:Auguste Rodin Sculptures and Drawings. G.Nerret B.Tasche 1994 I chose this work because like many of Rodin ’s works it contains a vast amount of energy and something akin to life force.Although not as delightful as his more famous sensual erotic works, it demonstrates Rodin’s ability to capture and project intense emotion in a sculpture. “The Prodigal Son” was produced in 1889 although it genesis was much earlier. The figure appears in the incredible “Gate of Hell ” upon whichRodin worked from 1880 until his death in 1917.Source:Auguste Rodin Sculptures and Drawings . G.Nerret B.Tasche 1994 The Gate of Hell seems to have acted as a data bank of Rodin’s creations. They contain one hundred and eighty-seven figures absolutely seething with life. The small figures are captured in amazing poses , the work is so charged that I find it overwhelming. The figures writhe in pleasure and pain, a nightmare rendered in three dimensions. some of the figures are drawn directly from the characters inDantes Inferno . Others reflect Rodin’s dark imagination in Gothic mode. Many of Rodin’s larger sculptures can be found on the’ Gate.The Prodigal Son was modelled from Paolo one of Ugulino’s sons (Dante’s Inferno) who are the inspiration for many of Rodin’s works. Source:Auguste Rodin Sculptures and Drawings . G.Nerret B.Tasche 1994The figure was first used as “Sorrow” in 1882.Rodin loved the human body and all its expressions. He captured many of the poses he utilised in a wonderful manner. He would ask a number of naked models to move continuously about his studio. He would study them intently and periodically ask one to pause exactly as they were currently posing. He would then quickly sketch the figure in clay. He would then ask the models to continue until he found another pose. Rodin spent hours observing the body in motion and in various situations. He became familiar with the subtle play of muscle bone and sinews, as a harmonious entity. He was able to translate his unique observations into inorganic expressions of physical and emotional life.Rodin was able to work the surface of his material to achieve complex planesthat reflected and absorbed light so as to demonstrate emotion by the look of the body. He said “The sculpture must learn to reproduce the surface, which means all that vibrates on the surface, soul, love, passion, life .. . Sculpture isthus the art of hollows and mounds, not of smoothness, or even polished planes.” Rodin’s sculpture is his own interpretation of the human condition , both directly from his experience and his translation of the experience of others. The Prodigal Son figure was next used in “FugitAmor” (Fleeting Love) which also features in various parts of the Gate of Hell. Here the figure is combined with a female form. The figures represent the adulterous Paolo and Francesca whom Dante prescribed a punishment of forever riding a whirlwind, together but never joined in love. Rodin liked very much these grand themes for his sculpture unlike his contemporary Degas who liked to express more mundane scenes in his impressionistic sculpture, eg: “The Dancer”. Source:Auguste Rodin Sculptures and Drawings . G.Nerret B.Tasche 1994 These figures powerfully express the physical and emotional torture of the eternal damnation imagined by Dante. They are far removed from the Classical sculptural traditions and go beyond naturalism in their contorted and improbable pose, that is full of life. The Prodigal Son was exhibited at the International Exposition in Paris in 1900. An art critic of the time called Lawton, wrote the following about it. “Kneeling and suppliant, the arms flung aloft and the face straining upward, it presented a most pathetic picture of deep contrition and ardent yearning for forgiveness.”

I would have said, the forlorn abandoned and pitiful figure arches his body spasmodically and stretches his arms to God. The anguished face cries out in pain, sorrow and futility. Although the torso and outstretched arms attempt to command your attention, it is the face that betrays the intention of this work. There is desperation in this face. Futility, horror, lonliness and sorrow. The skin is taut, devoid of detail and the eyes seem blind to earthly vision.Rodin said of the Prodigal Son, ” I made the muscles project emphatically to express distress.. .I exaggerated the separation of the tendons to show the ardour of prayer..” He succeeded emphatically.The hands seem proportionately larger and project the energy of the figure upwards capturing the space above the form so that it seems all space between those hands and God belongs to this sculpture. Although it reaches stridently for the sky the figure is firmly anchored to the earth by the kneeling lower legs. The thighs bulge, particularly the right thigh, they seem about to unleash a mighty futile spring. Their energy however pours into th