Rodin

Creator of a new form in sculpture, the fragment as a finished work, usually a head & trunk, sometimes a pair of hands only, Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) is renowned in his expression of emotion & movement & his use of symbolism & distortion. In 1913 (the year Duchamp infamously signed a urinal & exhibited it in the Amory Show in New York City), Rodin described his pictorial approach to sculpting: "I place the model in such a way that it stands out against the background & so that the light falls on this profile. I execute it, & turn both my turn-table & that of the model so that I can see another profile. Then I turn them again & gradually work my way round the figure." Illus., 88 b&w plates. 126p.