Figure Disrobing

Figure Disrobing

Auguste Rodin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

From the mid-1890s, Rodin turned his attention to the live model and adopted a new approach to drawing. He became interested in the unconscious movements that his sitters assumed in between traditional poses. The artist tried sketching without looking at the paper in order to keep his gaze fixed on the model. The results contain inevitable distortions and often exceed the bounds of the sheet. Nevertheless, through the simplest graphic means, he captured the dynamism of the body. Here, the concentration of swift graphite marks conveys the gathering pleats of fabric and the upward motion of the model lifting the chemise over her head.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.