Description

"I will have a Narcissus cast in bronze, it will serve as my personal stamp",
this enigmatic and mocking phrase, hastily scribbled on a loose sheet of
paper, could be used as an epigraph to the portrait of Rodin.

The artist was completely engrossed in his art, his entire life was devoted to
it. His family, close friends, officials, detractors, models and apprentices all
had to submit to the creative demands and consuming practices of the sculptor.
Rodin organised his posterity by combining his doubts and faults with
the determination that was so typical of him.

Whether they were studies, sketches, observations or comments, he used his
rough drafts as in a game of mirrors; by filling in hundreds of notebooks, he
found himself face to face with Nature, History, his Forefathers and Himself.
Thus, the portrait takes shape, dense, complex and enduring.

Marie-Pierre Delclaux gives us an unusual view of Rodin, a reflection on the
character of the man. A sensitive biography.