| I Am Beautiful | |
|---|---|
| French: Je suis belle | |
 | |
| Artist | Auguste Rodin |
| Year | 1882 |
| Type | Sculpture |
| Medium | Bronze |
| Dimensions | 69.4 cm× 36 cm× 36 cm(27.3 in× 14.1 in× 14.1 in) |
| Location | Dallas Museum of Art, Texas |
I Am Beautiful, also known as The Abduction, [1] is a sculpture of 1882 by the French artist Auguste Rodin, inspired in a fragment from Charles Baudelaire's collection of poems Les Fleurs du mal .
The sculpture appears in the Gates of Hell , specifically in the right pilaster, made from joining Crouching Woman and The Falling Man . This group shows the woman with her back to the audience, in a round-like shape, and the man holding her in a manner reminiscent of the mythological deity Atlas. [2] In this and several other pieces, Rodin wants to express a morbid and erotic vision in which sexual satisfaction is unreachable. [3]
I Am Beautiful was part of an exhibition at the Georges Petit Gallery in 1886, where it caused commotion due to its audacity: the union of the aforementioned pieces forms a symbolic expression of joy and passion that could not be achieved by its component parts, showcasing both suffering—in a figure that folds unto itself—and an excess of reach in an overextended figure. [4]
François Auguste René Rodin was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, and deeply pocketed surface in clay. He is known for such sculptures as The Thinker, Monument to Balzac, The Kiss, The Burghers of Calais, and The Gates of Hell.
The Thinker is a bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin, situated atop a stone pedestal. The work depicts a nude male figure of heroic size sitting on a rock. He is seen leaning over, his right elbow placed on his left thigh, holding the weight of his chin on the back of his right hand. The pose is one of deep thought and contemplation, and the statue is often used as an image to represent philosophy.
The Burghers of Calais is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin in twelve original castings and numerous copies. It commemorates an event during the Hundred Years' War, when Calais, a French port on the English Channel, surrendered to the English after an eleven-month siege. The city commissioned Rodin to create the sculpture in 1884 and the work was completed in 1889.
The Gates of Hell is a monumental bronze sculptural group work by French artist Auguste Rodin that depicts a scene from the Inferno, the first section of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. It stands at 6 metres high, 4 metres wide and 1 metre deep (19.7×13.1×3.3 ft) and contains 180 figures.
Saint John the Baptist (preaching) is a bronze sculpture, by Auguste Rodin.
The Martyr or The Little Martyr is a c.1885 plaster sculpture of a naked dead or sleeping female figure by Auguste Rodin, now in the Musee Rodin.
Cybele is a sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin. It is one of the first of Rodin's partial figures known as "fragments" to be displayed as sculpture in its own right, rather than an incomplete study.
Eternal Springtime is a c. 1884 sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin, depicting a pair of lovers. It was created at the same time as The Gates of Hell and originally intended to be part of it. One of its rare 19th-century original casts belongs to the permanent collection of Calouste Gulbenkian Museum.
The Falling Man is a sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin modeled in 1882 and is part of Rodin's emblematic group The Gates of Hell.
Fugitive Love is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin made between 1886 and 1887, both sculpted in marble and cast in bronze. It represents a man and a woman embracing each other on top of a rock. More specifically, the author was inspired by the story of Francesca da Rimini's love affair with Paolo Malatesta, an allusion to Dante Alighieri's depiction of lust on the second circle of Hell in his Inferno.
Avarice and Lust is a sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin, conceived between 1885 and 1887, representing two of the seven capital sins and is part of his sculptural group The Gates of Hell, where it can be found in the lower part of the right door. It's possible that the name was inspired by Victor Hugo's poem Après une lecture du Dante:
Standing Mercury is a bronze sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin, first exhibited in 1888. Rodin depicts the mythological god Mercury, son of Maia and Jupiter—messenger of the gods and guide to the Underworld—as a young man, representing eloquence and reason. This depiction is opposite to the traditional representation of Hermes, its Greek counterpart, as a mature man.
Eve is a nude sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin. It shows Eve despairing after the Fall.
Glaucus is a sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin, first conceived in 1886 as a representation of the mythological figure Glaucus, son of Poseidon. Originally made in plaster, bronze casts of it are now in the Brooklyn Museum and the Museo Soumaya.
Despair or Despair at the Gate is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin that he conceived and developed from the early 1880s to c. 1890 as part of his The Gates of Hell project. The figure belongs to a company of damned souls found in the nine circles of Hell described by Dante in The Divine Comedy. Other title variations are Shade Holding her Foot, Woman Holding Her Foot, and Desperation. There are numerous versions of this work executed as both plaster and bronze casts and carved marble and limestone.
The Shade, The Slave or The Titan is a sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin.
Meditation or The Interior Voice is an 1886 sculpture by Auguste Rodin, showing a young woman resting her head on her right shoulder.
Mask of a Weeping Woman is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin, initially produced as a pair with Weeping Woman for the first version of his The Gates of Hell in 1885. The two pieces were intended to appear on the centre of each panel. They were later moved by Rodin himself, who instead placed Mask on the lower part of the left panel.
Adam is an 1880-1881 statue of Adam by Auguste Rodin, first exhibited at the Paris Salon that year entitled The Creation of Man.
Media related to I am beautiful by Auguste Rodin at Wikimedia Commons