This book relates the story of Rodin's extraodinary encounter with the aesthetics of Khmer dance, which he discovered on the occasion of the official visit by King Sisowath of Cambodia to France in 1906. Rodin developed a deep passion for this age-old dance. Enchanted by its pure gestures and graceful expressions, he dropped everything to follow the dancers of the royal ballet, when he left Paris for Marseilles, from where they would set off on their return journey by sea to Phnom Penh.

In less than one week, he made 150 drawings, retranscribing or interpreting the poses of the ballet, with an obvious fascination for the arms and hands of dancers. At a later stage, most of these drawings were touched up with watercolour, in tones of a rare refinement.
Richly illustrated and composed of hitherto unpublished essays on a relatively unknown part of Rodin's oeuvre, this outstanding book, the fruit of Franco-Cambodian collaboration, also reflects the positive encounter between the two cultures.

Éditions du musée Rodin
Author: Collective
Size: 24 x 35 cm
184 pages, 285 ill. colour
Paperback
Language: French 
Publication date: 2006
EAN: 9782901428947