Rodin: The Shape of Genius

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was arguably the most famous sculptor in the world in 1900 - a time when painting and painters excelled. How he reached such heights at the age of 60, and what happened when he did, are important questions that have not been closely considered in previous works of biography. In this reinterpretation of Rodin's life and times, the author draws for on closely guarded archives and family letters to disentangle the facts of his life from the myths that have grown up around them. Butler had exclusive access to a voluminous archive of unpublished letters written to Rodin by the most important people in his life - his son, his lover, Emile Zola, Claude Monet and George Bernard Shaw, amongst many others. The result is a richly textured account of the artist and his world, Paris's Left Bank at the turn of the century, in which Rodin's life is placed firmly in a historical and political context and one in which the author considers the meaning of his life, his work and his relationships.