The famous French sculptor has his main museum at the Museé Rodin in Paris. Many of his works in clay have been cast in bronze for Philadelphia. Sculptures are one of the few forms of visual art that can be reproduced faithfully in a near-exact manner.
Featured figures in his work include the writers Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac. Rodin had a process of modelling subjects in the nude before clothing them to ensure he got the structure of the underlying limbs correct.
There are a number of hand sculptures, which some of his contemporaries considered sadistic and vile to dismember body parts. However, it helped Rodin focus on physiological essentials and express symbolism of good and evil. The hand of God is always depicted as a right hand—good and righteous. The hand of the devil and hand from a tomb is a left hand—the antithesis representing evil and sin.
Located across from The Franklin Institute, it is much calmer without noisy children. You can apply the donated admission towards a ticket to the Philadelphia Museum of Art later in the day. Thank you, Jules Mastbaum, for giving us this alcove of retreat for adults who enjoy the finer arts in a rowdy museum district.
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