Auguste Rodin - Nijinsky 1912
Although this plaster figure of Vaslav Nijinsky isn’t of any one particular ballet, it is very reminiscent of the 1912 highly controversial ‘L’apres Midi D’un Faun’, performed by Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes and Nijinsky in Paris. Rodin had been to a performance of the 12 minute new ballet and, after a scathing review in the conservative Le Figaro and Le Matin the next morning, had lent his name to a letter supporting Nijinsky and the ballet that very afternoon. Nijinsky apparently posed for Rodin in his studio as recognition of that support; although Rodin was quite disappointed when short, dumpy, muscular Nijinsky turned up in regular garb looking rather ordinary. The on stage Nijinsky was a different beast altogether, his power, erotic tension and ability in the air were unparalleled at the time. The positioning of the body, head shape, goat like profile and almost two dimensional angularity are pure L’Apres Midi. Rodin, in his brilliance, captured the essence of Nijinsky, his explosive power and his control, perfectly in this work; the muscular tension and exaggerated form only enhances the viewers feeling of anticipation, the next movement is imminent.
Rodin was fixated on dancers, their bodies and their way of moving. Degas had cornered the market on tulle and grease paint, Rodin’s drawings and 3D work were more earthy, tense, erotic, more interested in the armature of the dancer - tipping over into abstraction at times. He attempted to encapsulate Isadora Duncan but she froze in his studio, he did maul her like a lump of clay during the meeting so maybe that’s why.
