Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1911 (Heft 34-35))

SOME RECOLLECTIONS OF RODIN

USUALLY we know an artist through his works. In the case of Rodin
it was my good fortune to become acquainted with his works through
the man, and since the volumes on his artistic achievements and beliefs
are very plentiful and as illuminating as such things can be, I will speak only
of those qualities which comprise the man. It may be difficult to say that a
distinct line of demarcation exists between the artistic and the purely human
side of a man’s make-up, for at best each must be of influence on the other,
but it is safe to say that few of the expositions on Rodin give us the impression
that besides being a great creator he is also a great person.
In every character there is a single dominating force, which decides most
of its actions in matters great or small, and many of Rodin’s deepest inspira-
tions as well as his small shortcomings, of which his enemies like to make so
much, may be clearly understood if we will but remember that in him this
compelling force is the child in the man. It is this quality that lends him a
sweetness and charm which holds forever all those who have ever called them-
selves his friends, it is the same quality that leads him into those numerous
petty errors which his enemies seize upon and magnify and which even his
friends have not always rightly understood. But who need care about the
present importance of a red button, official receptions and dinners, or other
indications of popular approval, when it is remembered that this is the child’s
first opportunity to play after years and years of more than one man’s share
of struggle and labor ?
If we take up an account of Rodin’s life, it shows not only the artist’s
usual early difficulties, the fight for his ideal and its recognition, but years
of venomous attack, both from the official art circles, who failed to perceive his
importance but realized that a new power was arising here which they hated
because they could not claim it as their product, and from fellow-artists who
by the sincerity of his message were forced to realize that the gods they followed
were false, that their whole weak beings must crumble next the presence of this
giant, if they did not band themselves together and make him out a deceiver
before that final tribunal, the public, which always judges though it rarely
understands. Forty years or more injustice remained the stronger, and Rodin’s
life was one of hardships and bitter solitude. Then suddenly the lonely one
has all the pretty baubles which the world can offer thrown before him. What
more natural than that the bright things should attract the child in him and
tempt him temporarily to stretch out his hand ? Wrongly construed, these
foibles may easily become useful material for hostile minds, but to those who
have sufficient largeness of heart to understand, these human frailties only
serve to make the great man seem closer and more dear.
Moreover, this side of Rodin which is child has a sweetness not dreamed
of by the multitude who meet him casually or those who go forth pencil in hand
to make a book upon him for those who meet him not at all; but it is given out
freely in a thousand different ways when he feels that he is surrounded by
those who love him. For like all children, big or small, he lives on affection,
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