PHOTO-SECESSION GALLERIES
EXHIBITION OF DRAWINGS

BY M. AUGUSTE RODIN,
JANUARY SECOND TO JANUARY
TWENTY-FIRST, MDCCCCVIII

IN THIS EXHIBITION AN OPPORTUNITY IS, FOR THE FIRST TIME, GIVEN THE AMERICAN PUBLIC TO STUDY DRAWINGS BY RODIN. THE FIFTY-EIGHT NOW SHOWN WERE SELECTED FOR THIS PURPOSE BY RODIN AND MR. STEICHEN. TO AID IN THEIR FULLER UNDERSTANDING WE REPRINT FROM ARTHUR SYMONS' "STUDIES IN SEVEN ARTS" THE FOLLOWING EXTRACT FROM HIS SYMPATHETIC ESSAY ON RODIN:

"IN THE DRAWINGS, WHICH CONSTITUTE IN THEMSELVES SO INTERESTING A DEVELOPMENT OF HIS ART, THERE IS LITTLE OF THE DELICACY OF BEAUTY. THEY ARE NOTES FOR THE CLAY, 'INSTANTANÉS,' AND THEY NOTE ONLY MOVEMENT, EXPRESSION. THEY ARE DONE IN TWO MINUTES, BY A MERE GALLOP OF THE HAND OVER PAPER, WITH THE EYES FIXED ON SOME UNCONSCIOUS POSE OF THE MODEL. AND HERE, IT WOULD SEEM (IF INDEED ACCIDENT DID NOT ENTER SO LARGELY INTO THE MATTER) THAT A POINT IN SENTIMENT HAS BEEN REACHED IN WHICH THE PERVERSE IDEALISM OF BAUDELAIRE HAS DISAPPEARED, AND A SIMPLER KIND OF CYNICISM TAKES ITS PLACE. IN THESE ASTONISHING DRAWINGS FROM THE NUDE WE SEE WOMAN CARRIED TO A FURTHER POINT OF SIMPLICITY THAN EVEN IN DEGAS: WOMAN THE ANIMAL; WOMAN, IN A STRANGE SENSE, THE IDOL. NOT EVEN THE JAPANESE HAVE SIMPLIFIED DRAWING TO THIS ILLUMINATING SCRAWL OF FOUR LINES, ENCLOSING THE WHOLE MYSTERY OF THE FLESH. EACH DRAWING INDICATES, AS IF IN THE ROUGH BLOCK OF STONE, A SINGLE VIOLENT MOVEMENT. HERE A WOMAN FACES YOU, HER LEGS THROWN ABOVE HER HEAD; HERE SHE FACES YOU WITH HER LEGS THRUST OUT BEFORE HER, THE SOLES OF HER FEET SEEN CLOSE AND GIGANTIC. SHE SQUATS LIKE A TOAD, SHE STRETCHES HERSELF LIKE A CAT, SHE STANDS RIGID, SHE LIES ABANDONED. EVERY MOVEMENT OF HER BODY, VIOLENTLY AGITATED BY THE

REMEMBRANCE, OR THE EXPECTATION, OR THE ACT OF DESIRE, IS SEEN AT AN EXPRESSIVE MOMENT. SHE TURNS UPON HERSELF IN A HUNDRED ATTITUDES, TURNING ALWAYS UPON THE CENTRAL PIVOT OF THE SEX, WHICH EMPHASIZES ITSELF WITH A FANTASTIC AND FRIGHTFUL MONOTONY. THE FACE IS BUT JUST INDICATED, A FACE OF WOOD, LIKE A SAVAGE IDOL; AND THE BODY HAS RARELY ANY OF THAT ELEGANCE, SEDUCTIVE-NESS, AND SHIVERING DELICACY OF LIFE WHICH WE FIND IN THE MARBLE. IT IS A MACHINE IN MOVEMENT, A MONSTROUS, DEVASTATING MACHINE, WORKING MECHANICALLY, AND POSSESSED BY THE ONE RAGE OF THE ANIMAL. OFTEN TWO BODIES INTERLACE EACH OTHER, FLESH CRUSHING UPON FLESH IN ALL THE EXASPERATION OF A FUTILE POSSESSION; AND THE ENERGY OF THE EMBRACE IS INDICATED IN THE GREAT HAND THAT LIES LIKE A WEIGHT UPON THE SHOULDERS. IT IS HIDEOUS, OVERPOWERING, AND IT HAS THE BEAUTY OF ALL SUPREME ENERGY.

AND THESE DRAWINGS, WITH THEIR VIOLENT SIMPLICITY OF APPEAL, HAVE THE DISTINCTION OE ALL ABSTRACT THOUGHT OR FORM. EVEN IN DEGAS THERE IS A CERTAIN LUXURY, A POSSIBLE LOW APPEAL, IN THOSE HEAVY AND CREASED BODIES BENDING IN TUBS AND STREAMING A SPONGE OVER HUDDLED SHOULDERS. BUT HERE LUXURY BECOMES GEOMETRICAL; ITS AXIOMS ARE DEMONSTRATED ALGEBRAICALLY. IT IS THE UNKNOWN X WHICH SPRAWLS, IN THIS SPAWNING ENTANGLEMENT OF ANIMAL LIFE, OVER THE DAMPED PAPER, BETWEEN THESE PENCIL OUTLINES, EACH DONE AT A STROKE, LIKE A HARD, SURE STROKE OF THE CHISEL.

FOR, IT MUST BE REMEMBERED, THESE ARE THE DRAWINGS OF A SCULPTOR, NOTES FOR A SCULPTURE, AND THUS INDICATING FORM AS THE SCULPTOR SEES IT, WITH MORE BREVITY, IN SIMPLER OUTLINE, THAN THE PAINTER. THEY SPEAK ANOTHER LANGUAGE THAN THE DRAWINGS OF THE PAINTER, SEARCHING, AS THEY DO, FOR THE POINTS THAT CATCH THE LIGHT ALONG A LINE, FOR THE CURVES THAT INDICATE CONTOUR TANGIBLY. IN LOOKING AT THE DRAWINGS OF A PAINTER, ONE SEES COLOR; HERE, IN THESE SHORTHAND NOTES OF A SCULPTOR, ONE'S FINGERS SEEM ACTUALLY TO TOUCH MARBLE."

PRICES UPON INQUIRY

ELI NADELMAN EXHIBITION AT "291" (GALLERY OF THE PHOTO-SECESSION), DECEMBER EIGHTH, 1915, TO JANUARY EIGHTH, 1916

WE ARE FLOODED WITH PICTURES AND SCULPTURE, BUT ARE WITHOUT PLASTIC ART. WE SEEK, IN PAINTING AND SCULPTURE, ALL THINGS SAVE THOSE WHICH THEY COULD AND SHOULD GIVE TO US. WE HAVE SEVERAL IDEALS OF ART, BUT WE LACK THE TRUE ONE. AT ONE TIME WE IMITATE NATURE SO CLOSELY THAT WE MAKE NOTHING BUT STERILE COPIES OF HER. AT ANOTHER WE SEPARATE OURSELVES FROM HER COMPLETELY AND TURN TOWARD THE ABSTRACT, WHERE WE FLOAT IN THE VOID AND NO LONGER FIND ANYTHING. WE WOULD LIKE TO POSSESS A GREAT ART WHICH, BY ITS AUTHORITY AND CLARITY, WOULD IMPOSE ITSELF UPON ALL; AND WE POSSESS BUT VAGUE ATTEMPTS WHICH CHANGE DAILY AND FAIL TO SATISFY.

FOR A LONG WHILE THE TRUE MEANINGS OF PLASTIC ART HAVE ESCAPED US. WE DO NOT RECOGNIZE THAT ESSENTIAL QUALITY WHICH GIVES TO THIS ART ITS TRUE VALUE, AND WHICH PERMITS IT TO DEVELOP IN ALL ITS GRANDEUR.

NEITHER AN EXACT COPY OF NATURE, NOR A GEOMETRICAL ABSTRACT FORM, NOR ALL THE PRODUCTIONS OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE IN OUR TIME THAT CAN BE PLACED BETWEEN THESE TWO EXTREMES, POSSESS THAT QUALITY.

THE ULTIMATE QUALITY OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE IS PLASTICITY.

MATTER HAS AN INDIVIDUAL WILL WHICH IS ITS LIFE. A STONE WILL REFUSE ALL THE POSITIONS WE MAY WISH TO GIVE IT IF THESE ARE UNSUITED TO IT. BY ITS OWN WILL IT WILL FALL BACK INTO THE POSITION THAT ITS SHAPE IN CONJUNCTION WITH ITS MASS DEMANDS.

HERE IS A WONDERFUL FORCE, A LIFE THAT PLASTIC ART SHOULD EXPRESS. HERE IS A LIFE WHICH, CULTIVATED, ENRICHED BY ART, WILL REACH A DAZZLING POWER OF EXPRESSION THAT WILL STIR US.

IT IS THIS WILL OF MATTER EXPRESSED IN SHAPES AND VOLUME THAT I CALL PLASTICITY. THIS POWER, THIS WILL, IS NOT SOLELY FOUND IMPRISONED IN MATTER ITSELF. IT IS A NATURAL FORCE THAT CORRESPONDS TO OUR OWN INSTINCT. IN LOOKING AT A TOWER WHOSE HEIGHT IS TOO GREAT A FEELING OF DISQUIET COMES OVER US. WE FEEL THAT THE MATERIAL LABORS UNDER STRAIN AND DOES NOT FIND ITSELF NORMALLY CONDITIONED. IN THE SAME WAY ANY OBJECT IN WHICH THE NEEDS OF THE MATERIAL HAVE BEEN RESPECTED TRANSMITS TO US A SENSE OF SATISFACTION. IT IS FROM THIS THAT CONTACT BETWEEN US AND A WORK OF PLASTIC ART DERIVES. IT IS, THEREFORE, THE PLASTICITY OF THE IMAGE THAT AWAKES SENSATIONS IN US; AND THE MOST INDIFERENT OBJECT REVEALS ITSELF TO US WITH AN UNFAMILIAR FORCE AND CHARM IF THIS OBJECT IS INTERPRETED BY A PURELY PLASTIC MEANS, INDEPENDENTLY OF WHAT A WORK OF PLASTIC ART REPRESENTS, IT IS SOLELY BY ITS PLASTICITY THAT IT SPEAKS TO US. PLASTICITY IS THE POETRY OF PLASTIC ART. IT IS ITS ESSENCE. TO SEEK ITS POETRY ELSEWHERE IS TO DRAW IT TOWARD ERROR.

ELI NADELMAN.