Fernand Khnopff by Robert L. Delevoy (review)

168 Books human subjects. She admired Pre-Raphaelite precision in painting vegetation and tried to imitate it in words, but she disapproved of a mannered picturesque mode without a moral. In this, according to Witemeyer, she was influenced especially by Ruskin's views of visual art. He gives instances of her use ofactual pictures for describing a character or a scene, as well as typical examples of her consciously visual word portraiture. But did her imagination translate easily back from the written word to depictions and would she be satisfied with such a translation? Witemeyer attempts to answer this too, ending with a chapter on Frederic Leighton's illustrations for 'Romola'. The argument is pursued with fine scholarship, good sense and assurance throughout and is liberally supported with photographs of the paintings discussed. Though intended primarily for readers with an interest in Eliot, it is full of interest for students of painting from the Renaissance to the 19th century and of the ideas about pictorial representation arising therefrom. In Rodin's Studio: A Photographic Record of Sculpture in the Making. Albert E. Elsen and Walter A. Haas. Phaidon, Oxford, 1980.192 pp., illus. £10.95. ISBN 0-7148-1976-X. Reviewed by Christopher Crouch' In 1907 Frederick Lawton published a small biography and appreciation of Rodin. True to the tastes and prejudices of his age, his lavish book was bound in tooled leather, with uncut pages gilded, physically and metaphorically, with talk of the soul and of the ideal. What concerns us here about this book is the tiniest of sentences tucked away under the list of illustrations; here the real world intrudes: 'Photographs by Buloz [all other] photographs taken by M. Druet.' What Elsen's book gives us is a fascinating expansion of this peripheral information. 'In Rodin's Studio' is a collection of photographs of Rodin's work, his studio and, occasionally, of himself taken by the aforementioned photographers, Steichen and others. Whilst Rodin did not take photographs himself. he supervised their production to a fine degree by recommending lighting, correcting proofs and rejecting and destroying those he found unsatisfactory. The photographs were like the studio assistants of earlier days working under the instruction of the Maitre. We are taken with some detail into the relationship Rodin built up with his erstwhile colleagues, who, in retrospect, can be seen as vitally important in their role as disseminators of visual information regarding Rodin's sculpture, and the way it was perceived and understood by the public of that time. Rodin's attitude to photography is discussed, as is his photographic approach and ideas with regard to his sculpture. The role photography played in the development of his sculptures and the way sequential photographs demonstrate the conceptual and physical processes they underwent, is examined with insight. The photographs themselves are reproduced well, and extensively annotated. One can organize them into several groupings: There are photographs that can be considered as reproductions of Rodin's work, photographs that we could refer to as 'Photographic Art Works' that base themselves on Rodin's work. There are photographs that act as records of Rodin's working environment and photographs that could be considered as a drawing analogue, that is, photographs that have been treated by Rodin with washes and overdrawing, remoulding in two dimensions his sculpture. They act as records of changes in Rodin's approach and illustrate his working habits. These 'working photographs' provide an interesting insight into Rodin's ceaseless struggle with his materials and his concept of the artifact. They illustrate perfectly his remark, 'I am always looking, and I know there remains to be found infinitely more than I shall ever have time to discover'. One curious aspect that emerges is Rodin's public attitude to photography, where he keeps it firmly at arms length. Privately, he encouraged its development, as this book amply demonstrates. He studied and used Muybridge's Animal Locomotion, yet '36 Springbourne Road, St. Michaels in The Hamlet, Liverpool 17 7BJ, England. dismissed documentary photography, since he felt that the true artist should interpret, and 'touch' emotionally. This idealist stance, however. is made dubious by these photographic images. Acting as potent images themselves, they assist...