Romanthony - Wreck
pressed in 2000
This Auguste Rodin piece at the San Francisco Legion of Honor especially struck me:
Auguste Rodin - Eve (Bronze with Brown Patina)
1880-1881
As the story is traditionally told, it is Eve's nakedness that brings her shame. But, isn't it rather her awareness of being naked, of being naked in the world that brings her shame? And how can this awareness be called shame? For whatever reason, she now knows that she is seen. She is seeing herself. She is being watched. She is aware that she is being watched, all for the very first time. She is being seen differently, by herself and the world. One speculates that she must be horrified, that to cover herself, to hide her corpulent body in plain sight, is her first reaction. But, one speculates too, that she cannot imagine her body yet, that she doesn't yet know what to cover up, that she too imaginatively exclaims, 'what to do with this here?' It is this that Rodin captured for all eternity.
Rene Magritte - The Dangerous Liaison
1926
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