Gérard A. Jaeger's 'Rodin et les femmes' Explores the Sculptor's Female Muses

In his essay 'Rodin et les femmes', Gérard A. Jaeger catalogs the numerous women who posed for Auguste Rodin, including Rose, Anna, Camille, Isadora, Loïe, Eve, Sophie, Jeanne, Hélène, Safi, Claire, and Renée. These women came from diverse backgrounds: students, maids, duchesses, dancers, artists, adventuresses, French and foreigners. Jaeger argues that Rodin's intense observation of female bodies was not merely aesthetic or hedonistic, but served his artistic inquiry into beauty and 'fall', as previously explored by Sollers in his film on 'The Gates of Hell'. Rodin, according to Jaeger, was also a philosopher, theologian, ethicist, and poet, carrying Dante's 'Divine Comedy' in his pocket. The essay is complemented by photographs of the women and their transformations in Rodin's hands. Jacques Henric provides commentary.