Monday, July 20, 2015

Balzac's "Unknown Masterpiece"

(Credit: couscouschocolat)
Our selection this month is "The Unknown Masterpiece," by HonorĂ© de Balzac. Seen at right is Auguste Rodin's sculpture of Rodin, of which British art historian Kenneth Clark had this to say: "His Balzac is to my mind, the greatest piece of sculpture since Michaelangelo. Balzac's body has the timelessness of a druidical stone and his head has the voracity of an owl.  The real reason why he made people so angry is their feeling that he could gobble them up and he doesn't care a damn for their opinions." (quoted in "Gates of Hell, Rodin's passion in Stone," by Arline Boucher Tehan).