Apropos Rodin [Hardcover]

Jennifer Gough-Cooper (Author), Geoff Dyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2006

A mesmerizing collection of photographs of Rodin's sculpture, taken at the Musée Rodin and at the Musée du Luxembourg, Paris.

It was a chance visit to the Musée Rodin nearly ten years ago that sparked Jennifer Gough-Cooper's renewed interest in photography, and the exceptional results will be exhibited at the museum this autumn. Her photographs of such works as The Kiss and Adam and Eve reveal the beauty of the stone, the light from the grand eighteenth-century windows, and the movement of the visitors in the room, to create soft Impressionist forms with a wonderful painterly quality.

A thought-provoking text by Geoff Dyer makes us realize how photographs of sculpture can reveal qualities in these works of art that are often not immediately apparent. As he writes, the photographs enable us to gaze on Rodin's sculpture "with the same intensity and absorption that he regarded—in very different ways—the men and women who modeled for him. What Gough-Cooper has photographed is nothing less than the awakening of stone, stone awakening to the camera's touch." 73 color illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jennifer Gough-Cooper studied at Hornsey College of Art in the 1960s, and has worked as an exhibition organizer. Geoff Dyer is the author of many acclaimed books, including Ways of Telling: The Work of John Berger and the award-winning But Beautiful. Both live in England.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson (October 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500543194
• ISBN-13: 978-0500543191
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #492,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Major Disappointment, February 28, 2007

By 

G. Conover - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Apropos Rodin (Hardcover)

I have a serious collection of Rodin books and look forward to every new one that is published, so I was anxious to get this book. Unfortunately the book is a major disappointment. While a few of the photographs are interesting, the majority are an embarrassment - no better, and often worse, than any museum goer could take with a simple point & shoot digital camera.

It seems apparent that the photographer, Jennifer Gough-Cooper, was not given serious access for photographing the sculptures. She had to shoot through the glass display cases just like any museum goer and, for whatever reason, she does not use a polarizing filter. In many photographs the results are reflections which obliterate the sculpture itself, because of the reflections from the glass cases.

And the "soft focus" of some of the photographs seems more attributable to using an auto focus camera and the problems of shooting through glass than any artistic decision. Of the many other Rodin books that I own, none has such poor photography though admittedly not all are of the high quality of David Finn's photographs.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Artist's Perspective, September 2, 2008

By 

Philomath (Santa Monica, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apropos Rodin (Hardcover)

I take issue with the other review of this book. The reviewer seems to expect this book to be something it clearly is not, nor ever intended to be. Jennifer Gough-Cooper is a fine art photographer who created an absolutely beautiful series of photographs about the experience of seeing Rodin's work in the context of the Rodin Museum, with all its wood floors, French windows, glass vitrines, antique mirrors and mouldings. The photos are not about having "special access" and taking the works out of their context to give a sterile "objective" perspective. In terms of the "soft focus," this is an intentional product of the artist's choice of a shallow depth of field. The images in this book are not documentation, but fine art. In fact, the Rodin Museum chose to exhibit these photographs in their museum and acquire a set for their permanent collection. This book is pure poetry and I highly recommend it.