For my off-Friday adventure today, I wanted to check out a Rodin exhibit at the Pepperdine University Weisman Art Museum. But first, I thought I should go to a Chinese restaurant, since I’d heard people were avoiding them out of fear of the coronavirus. Indeed, I went to the usually bustling Sichuan Impression in West LA and found it was nearly empty at noon. I was happy to support them, ordering a heaping plate of “hong-xing” diced rabbit with peanuts, scallions, and sesame, all doused in chili oil, along with an appetizer of “impressive dumplings”. From there, I headed to PCH and up the coast to Malibu, where I stopped at Grom for gelato – espresso and mint chocolate chip. It was a beautiful day, a bit cloudy over the ocean, but when I turned onto Malibu Canyon Road, the light on the hillside, with its outcrops of sandstone and stands of eucalyptus, was just stunning. The exhibit – Rodin and Women: Muses, Sirens, and Lovers – was fascinating. With the emphasis on Rodin’s women, there were no Burghers, no Shades, no Balzac, and no Thinker. But there were some much loved familiar figures, including Eve, the Paolo and Francesca variations, and The Kiss. But there were also works I had never seen before. The Benedictions, a pair of winged spirits descending from Heaven, was meant to be a topper for a World’s Fair Monument to Labor that was never built. A Fallen Caryatid labors under the weight she bears. Several busts of women who were his models and muses exemplify that expressive motion that Rodin uniquely captured – these bronze faces look like they are about to turn, about to speak. I learned that Rodin eschewed professional models who struck formal poses; he preferred untrained models, and he directed them not to hold still but to continually move around so he could study their motion. It’s no wonder that so many of his sculptures capture figures in mid-movement so naturally that our minds can’t help but “see” the movement.
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