The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-07-03

Two or three weeks ago, at the time
OF the opening OF the Paris salon, the
Matm sent well-known art critic 20 IN
terview Auguste Eodin on the ever
fascinating subject Of woman's beauty.
Rodn has a studio in building
formerly used as convent school for
young girls and the interviewer Of the
Matin found it eminently poetic that the
worsliper Of beauty should in this man
ner have succeeded % the home of
beauty itself Surely, says the French
interviewer. the purity Of soul with
which the great artist seeks the true and
the lovely is not less than the purity
with which the charming young girls Of
years ago-And so on in a very poetic
manner. says a writer in the New York
| Times.
n. Rodin began by saying that beauty
changes quickly.
7 would not say that woman is like
a landscape that the suns inclination
changes ceaselessfy: but the COMPARE
son Is correct Real youth with our
models lasts scarcely more than six
months When the girl becomes a wo-
man il is another sort OF beauty. still
admirable but nevertheless less pure
Modern Women Beautiful.
DO you think that ancient beauty
much surpassed that Of our own time.
and that modern women are far from
equaIing those who posed to Phidias?' p
BY no means"
Nevertheless. the beauty of the Greek
Venus
Artists then had eyes TO see It. while
to-day they are blind; that is all the
! difference Greek women were beautiful,
but beauty resided in the minds of the
| sculptors who presented them, Women
! of to-day are their equals. especially
| Southern Europeans. Modern Italians,
for example, belong to the same Medi-
terrauean type as the models Of Phidias
The type is chiefly characterized by the
equality of width of the shoulders with
the lower part of the trunk"
Did not the Barbarian invasion al
ter by Intermarriage antique beauty
NO II is impossible 20 suppose that
the Barbarian races were less fine and
less we'll balanced than Mediterranean
races. but time removed the stains of q
mixture of blood and allowed the har-
mony Of the old type to reappear. II
the union of the beautiful with the ugly
it is always the beautiful which finally
triumphs Nature by a divine law. con
stantly tends toward the best-tends
without ceasing. toward perfection.
Beauty Is Everywhere.
by the side of the Mediterranean typs
exists a Northern type, 10 which belonl
many Frenchwomen, as well as the wo
men of Germanic and Slav races. II
this type the lower trunk is strongly
, | developed and the shoulders are narrow
er II is the structure. you observe, il
the nymphs Of Jean GOujon, in the Venus
of the Judgment Of Paris. painted b!
Vatican, and in the Diana of Houdon
In fact, beauty is everywhere. Beauty
is character and expression"
The great sculptor went on to sa!
that among other differences the tors
, Of the French and Slavic type incline,
forward. while with the Mediterranean
type it rather went backward. He dwell
especially. however, on the fact tha
beauty is everywhere. This is his grea
theory and the foundation of all hi
work: so it is natural to find him EN-
phasizing it, Beauty varies with differen
races. but exists in a high degree in all
aWhen the King of Cambodia was Il
, Paris" said NJ. Rodin. Il drew wit
delight the little dancers who accom-
panied him. Their slender grace wa
charming I also made studies of Nine
Hanako, the japanese actress. She ha
e not an atom of superfiuous flesh. an
{ IS all muscle. For instance, she ca
stand on one leg with the other extend
ed as long as she chooses. rooted to tn
ground like a tree. This is not a Eu
ropean type of beauty. but IT was Lowell
I in its extraordinary development"
Thus NJ RQdin. 1t seemed on read
ing these remarks that it would be in
teresting to have the opinion of a grea
American sculptor on this all-importar
question Mr. Gutzon Borglum, in hi
charming Thirty-eighth street studio
was interested in what Rodin had t
? say and was prepared to comment there
b on,
Both Are Great Artists.
{ First of all Mr.. -Borglum espresso
himself as loath to differ with Rodi
in any detail. THE two greatest art
lists in the world to-day, " he said. ar
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