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Remembered Today:

Rodin's 1914 Gift To The V&A


Howard

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Yesterday I found this posted on the wall of the Victoria and Albert Museum and thought it may be interesting to others. Clearly not everyone thought the war would "all be over by Chistmas". Even by November Rodin at least could see that.

 

Howard

 

Rodin's 1914 Gift To The V&A  

By challenging long-standing notions of sculpture and beauty, Auguste Rodin paved the way for modernist works of the 20th century. In France his career developed rather slowly, but in England he had many admirers by at least 1880. In 1902 the V&A acquired St. John the Baptist following a public subscription. Nine years later the National Art Collections Fund bought The Burghers of Calais for the nation, marking official recognition of his work.

 

In July 1914, Rodin was included in a major exhibition of modern French art held at Grosvenor House. He was the only sculptor to be represented, exhibiting alongside Cezanne, Gauguin, Monet and van Gogh. The exhibition ended on 21 July. When war was declared a fortnight later, the works were stranded in London.

 

Eric Maclagan, in charge of the Department of Architecture and Sculpture, argued for their loan to the V&A. On 14 September, following Rodin's visit to the Museum, a six-month loan was agreed. Sir Cecil Smith, Director, wrote, 'Personally I detest most of Rodin's work, but there is no doubt that when the history of modern art comes to be written, Rodin's sculpture will bulk large as an important factor'.

 

Meanwhile the war had been intensifying. German forces appeared to be close to capturing Paris. French casualties were already at least 230,000. Rodin was so moved by the joint action of British and French troops in France that he decided to make a gift of the eighteen stranded sculptures. In the Daily Telegraph of 12 November he was quoted as saying, `The English and French are brothers; your soldiers are fighting side by side with ours. As a little token of my admiration for your heroes, I decided to present the collection to England. That is all.'

 

This collection of works, personally selected by the sculptor to represent his work, was immediately seen as a monument: in The Times to 'this momentous crisis in the history of Europe' and in the Daily Telegraph 'not only to the British heroes who had fallen, but to those who live, and carry high the banner of freedom'. It cemented admiration for Rodin as `the greatest sculptor of his time' and remains the most important gift to the Museum by a living artist.

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