Rodin and his herous...

San Francisco's larger area is indeed full of treasures. Today my boyfriend and I spent our day at the Stanford campus in Palo Alto. Little did I know of Rodin's sculptures exhibited there (ohh my ignorance!). Rodin, the world famous French artist, is a progenitor of modern sculpture and I finally had real glimpse of why.

Right in front of one of the Stanford's Art centers, there stood the famous heroic Burghers of Calais. In nuttshell the statute depicts a story as follows:  Edward III, the English king, besieged the city of Calais and offered to spare the city if six of its inhabits would give themselves up to him. And so it was six 'burghers' of Calais voluntarily agreed to surrender themselves to Edward's hands. Mind you this is not a story of big victory, but a story of sorrow and human sacrifice. And Rodin depicted it with utmost realism. The statute comprises of the heroic burgers marching towards what they thought was certain execution.

I just read that initially the statute stood at a pedestal, but eventually was brought down to the ground as for the viewer to be able to better experience and interact with the individual figures. Genius! It's quite a remarkable experience to be able to look straight into the suffering eyes of Rodin's heroes and enjoy each of the burger's individual posture.

And this is officially my first art posting... Hopefully many more to come!