bn.com
Rodin's "The Thinker" was a symbol for a changing age. With the advent of psychoanalysis -- and the dawning of the age of "The Great Look Inward" -- a new self-based philosophy entered the public consciousness and informed Auguste Rodin's vision of a new sculptural mode of expression that would break from the constraints of the Greek style popular in Paris at the time. In Frederic Grunfeld's definitive biography of the artistic heir to Michelangelo, the story of the man who changed sculpture in the modern age is finally told.
Library Journal
Despite the rich subject matter of Rodin's life, there have been virtually no English-language biographical studies since the 1930s. Grunfeld's lively but uneven work updates information about Rodin's stormy romances, but is less thorough in studying the sculptor's relationships with influential political and literary figures, and seems to gloss over the effects of financial worries, relations with official salons, etc., on Rodin's artistic production. The book's racy who's who of fin-de-siecle French society make it a good addition for general collections; more reflective treatments will still be found in Robert Descharnes's August Rodin (Viking, 1967) and Albert Elsen's In Rodin's Studio (Cornell Univ. Pr., 1980). Paula A. Baxter, Museum of Modern Art Lib., New York
Washington Post Book World
Rodin finally has a biography worthy of his achievements.
