Talking about Creativity: Rodin, Cellini and Picasso
Creativity is the ability to generate innovative ideas and manifest them from thought into reality. The process involves original thinking and then producing. The process of creation was historically reserved for deities creating “from nothing” in Creationism and other creation myths. Over time, the term creativity came to include human innovation, especially in art and science and led to the emergence of the creative class. [from Wikipedia]
Creativity is like sex. You fumble your way through, you get lost in it, you fall in love. Both are passionate, rhythmic, pleasurable, and flowing. Both can bear fruit. And both can rack your soul with vulnerability, bliss, fear and awkwardness.
- Rodin’s ‘Ella fue la bella Heaulmiere’
Where have we as artists supposed to find our creativity? This is a personal question, and one that has different answers from all of us as individuals. I have been asking myself this question on and off for years, I found some help from reading some creativity quotes from world renown artists, they gave me some guidance, looking to these masters, I have tried to follow their lead.
Rodin for one, had some great ideas, he was one of the first to challenge established styles, and revolutionized sculpture, it has been said that Rodin was the best sculptor since Michael Angelo. This is a bit tall, but, O/K, why not? after reading as much about the man as I could find, I realise that the statement has some foundations. I believe Rodin was the Damien Hirst, or Tracy Emin of his time.
Rodin followed his own belief that all in nature is beautiful, and any artist who tried to improve upon nature by adding “Green to Springtime, Rosé to the sunrise, or Carmine to young lips” is creating ugliness because he is lying. So he went out and created what he considered to be the beautiful, to many people of the time his work was, outrageous, ugly, shocking,and indecent, on reflection we can see his works were in fact wholly truthfull, and honest renditions of what he saw, and these pieces have gone on to mark the transition he introduced in sculpture.
Rodin very often recycled his own work, by using part, or whole sculptures that he had already made (Marcottage),in other works, and many of his now very well known pieces are in fact parts taken from former ideas of his, the most famous is of course ” The thinker”, the original idea came to him, and was to be used on his epic “The gates of Hell” which were based on Dante’s inferno, the Thinker was said to be Rodin’s idea of Dante himself.
My particular favorite quote from Rodin is “Nature is the source of all beauty”. He is also known as saying that it was Michael Angelo who liberated him from academicism. Again a bit tall, and hard to swallow, until you begin to learn a little more about Michael Angelo.
- Cellini’s salt cellar in gold
As a side note to this paragraph, my particular favorite of MA’s time was the sculptor/ goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini whose autobiography makes terrific reading, it is not a heavy and ancient tome, its lighthearted, and endearing, and could be applied to almost anyone of our YBA’s today.
Picasso also held some very firm beliefs, it is said that he had a reckless, impulsive, or very unconventional attitude toward money, material things, and ownership, above all stating,he did not want to be possessed by his possessions. The obligation of owning things was oppressive to him.
- Picture from Picasso
A famous quote of his is ” I have never made trails or experiments, whenever I had something to say ( literally and artistically) I said it in the manner in which it needed to be said…. I can hardly understand the importance given to the word research in connection with modern art. In my opinion to search means nothing in art. To find is the thing!”
The following was written to a student, by a teacher, who had submitted a poem for her approval, it could easily be applied to art in any medium. “This is a well crafted poem. If you look at every line, see how well it is written, the form, the rhythm, the rhymes and syntax are all well handled. But the trouble is you knew everything in it before you sat down to write it. You didn’t surprise yourself, you didn’t discover anything as you wrote, nothing happened, and that is why Poetry has yet to walk into the poem”
All the above has helped me overcome the creative blocks that fall in front of me from time to time, we all have our own ways of rocking, and this is one of mine. I would like to quote Picasso once more, this statement signifies just about all that I feel regarding my artistic endeavors.
“To finish a piece? What nonsense! To finish means to be through with it! to rid it of soul, to give it the final blow! The coup de grace for the artist, as well as the piece”.
Christopher Stone
Related posts:
- Gagosian Gallery Paris Presents “Rodin – Sugimoto,” an Exhibition of Sculpture and Photography
- Two Cities, 20 Designers, and 90 Days to Complete an Exercise in Creativity
- Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris
- AOL Celebrates 25th Anniversary with Chuck Close’s Project on Creativity
- Marlborough Fine Art Holds First Ever UK Exhibition of Picasso’s Women in Print
