Rodin & Eros

We all knew Rodin had a weakness for Eros. But we never suspected to what point… This book with the mind-opening cover shows how the body –and bodies – was a great obsession of the sculptor’s. The book leafs through his bronzes, his plasters and above all his drawings –the greatest reservoir with his sensuous women-, and tries to draw up a panorama. The prudish titles of the time are amusing to decipher such as Femme nue sur le dos, maintenant une jambe près du visage (Nude woman on her back, holding a leg near her face) or Femme assise, la jupe relevée jusqu’à la taille(Woman sitting, skirt lifted above her waist). They hide things that are far from being insignificant. The text follows some back roads and questions the genesis of the motive of the grapevine leaf, or the possibility Rodin may have read Dictionnaire érotique moderne by Alfred Delvau or by mentioning his friendship with Octave Mirbeau.

• Rodin & Eros par Pascal Bonafoux, La Martinière, 2013, 272 p., €29.