Auguste Rodin French, 1840-1917
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Iris, Messenger of the Gods is a figure begun in 1890 and originally associated with the Monument to Victor Hugo. It combines the primary aesthetic tenets of Rodin's mature work: eroticism, movement, and the ability of a fragment to stand artistically on its own. The frank display of genitalia is necessary to this bold arabesque form, which is the grandest of Rodin's flying figures.
The modelling of the supple contours of the form is offset by the plaster's bubbles, nicks, and seams. Freed from the rhetoric of the Monument to Victor Hugo, Iris achieves gravitas and grace.
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