Page 75 - The Documenta issue of World of Art magazine (2002)

neWS ReLeASe Australia

INvOcATION
BRoNzE 53 x 25,5 x 26 CM
ThE ART GALLERy OF NEw SOuTh wALES DATE oF oRIGINAL PLASTER 1886
AnnOUnCeS A SiGniFiCAnT GiFT TO THe COLLeCTiOn OF 9 MuSEE RoDIN CAST 3/8, 1985
GIFT oF DAVID JoNES 2001
SCULPTUReS By AUGUSTe RODin THe GReATeST SCULPTOR OF
mODeRn TimeS THROUGH THe GeneROSiTy OF DAviD JOneS
LTD inCLUDinG A COmPLeTe SeT OF BROnze CASTS”THe
BURGHeRS OF CALAiS” ReGARDeD AS One OF RODin’S
GReATeST ACHievemenTS

it is with the greatest pleasure that the Art Gallery of new
South Wales announces the gift by David Jones Ltd of an
outstanding group of sculptures by the great artist, Auguste
Rodin. most prominently the David Jones Gift includes
a complete set of the six figures that constitute Rodin’s
second maquette (or sketch model) for the Burghers
of Calais, one of the artist’s major masterpieces and a
landmark in the history of european sculpture.

The Burghers of Calais reached its definitive form when
the group of over-lifesize figures was cast in bronze in
1895 and installed in the town of Calais on the north
coast of France. The monument had been commissioned
in 1884 to commemorate an historic episode during the
Hundred years’ War, when a group of prominent citizens
offered their lives to save the population of the town.
Rodin overturned convention to produce a monument,
which is as revolutionary in form as it is in expressive
power. He challenged almost every traditional attribute
of monumental sculpture to create a harrowing image of
heroic suffering, one with which the spectator cannot but
engage at an intensely emotional and physical level.

David Jones’ generous gift includes three further Rodin
bronzes. The intimate mask of iris reveals Rodin’s
unparalleled sensitivity and dexterity in the handling of
clay as he seeks our forms and patterns of light, which
imbue the face with both life and psychological depth. The
Gallery’s own cast of The Prodigal Son acquired in 1979 is
now joined by a comparable female figure from the David
Jones Gift known as invocation. The final work by Rodin
to enter the Gallery’s collection is the confusingly titled
monument to Whistler. This armless figure began life as a
muse on which Rodin seems to have begun work in 1905
using his mistress, the painter, Gwen John, as his model.
it is appropriate that along with the works by Rodin, the
David Jones Gift adds to the Collection a representation
of the distinguished twentieth-century British sculptor
elizabeth Frink. Frink remained a figurative sculptor SEcOND MAquETTE FOR ThE BuRGhERS OF cALAIS
throughout her career exploring above all the theme of the MuSEE RoDIN CAST 5/12, FoNDEuR SuSSE
male nude. She belonged to a generation of sculptors for DATE oF oRIGINAL PLASTER 1895
whom the example of Rodin remained a vital stimulus. GIFT oF DAVID JoNES 2001

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