Rodin : Sex and the Making of Modern Sculpture

During his lifetime, Auguste Rodin's name became synonymous with modern sculpture-- and sex. Rodin came to emphasize the importance of desire and the sexual as the markers of his individual perspective, using them to fuel his increasingly daring treatments of the nude. In the minds of many viewers, the dramatic and activated surfaces of his sculptures came to be seen as evidence of not just a sculptor's touch but of a lover's touch as well. This fascinating book makes a case for reconsidering the terms of Rodin's influence, arguing that the sculptor placed renewed emphasis on the materiality and objecthood of sculpture as a means of asserting his own desire's inseparability from his works.

David J. Getsy is the Goldabelle McComb Finn Distinguished Chair in Art History at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is the author of Body Doubles: Sculpture in Britain, 1877-1905 (Yale).