
Transcriber’s Note:
PREFACE
ILLUSTRATIONS
CHAPTER I REALISM IN ART
CHAPTER II TO THE ARTIST ALL IN NATURE IS BEAUTIFUL
CHAPTER III MODELLING
CHAPTER IV MOVEMENT IN ART
CHAPTER V DRAWING AND COLOR
CHAPTER VI THE BEAUTY OF WOMEN
CHAPTER VII OF YESTERDAY AND OF TO-DAY
In the tranquil hills above a quiet Seine village, the great sculptor has turned his home into a living manifesto for art. Strolling among red‑brick pavilions, a rotunda once displayed his Paris exhibition, and an elegant façade graces the garden orchard, every stone seems chosen to speak of beauty. In a conversational tone, he tells his companion that the modern world—driven by engineers and mass production—has forgotten the purpose of art, reducing life to mere utility.
His reflections paint art as a meditation, a blend of intellect and spirit that lifts the everyday into the sublime. He laments that contemporary society values speed over grace, seeing the artist as an outsider rather than a guide. Yet the dialogue carries a quiet urgency, hoping that a listener will hear his protest and rediscover the lost love of taste, imagination, and beauty that once animated every home and heart.
Language
en
Duration
~3 hours (200K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Release date
Jun 24, 2019
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1840–1917
A towering figure in modern sculpture, this French artist gave bronze and marble an unusual sense of movement, emotion, and inner life. His best-known works, including The Thinker and The Kiss, remain some of the most recognizable sculptures in the world.
View all books
by Auguste Rodin

by Order of the Eastern Star. General Grand Chapter

by Stendhal

by John Henry Newman

by Henry Adams

by Stephen Charnock

by Brillat-Savarin

by A. T. (Andrew Taylor) Still