Philadelphia is amazing. Driving in the Art Museum area one day, I happened to look to my right as I crossed over the Ben Franklin Parkway. "Oh my gosh, is that The Thinker?!?" Yes, according to a Philadelphia Museum of Art guide. It isn't the original, but a cast. Still, it drew me in to the Rodin Museum that serves as its background. My friend Grace and I took advantage of a mutual day off and ventured through. I have been yelled at for having a camera in other museums...but I took one along anyway. On top of that...I do not really enjoy shooting artwork...unless it's Rodin's. I love hands, I love feet, and Rodin invested much time in both. The first picture below is The Left Hand. It's beautiful, expressive, and, of course, insulting to me as a lefty. It's clearly meant to portray distortion, pain, perhaps evil. Below it is The Hand of God, which is craddling creation. Can you see the definition in the thumbs of the two? I admire his feet for the same reason. The third photograph is of the feet of a humongous, sculpted scene called Les Bourgeois de Calais. The faces are frighteningly sad. The feet are just as life-like, with vivid shapes as they travel bare on a muddy path.
It's a great museum, and a good nudge to visit the originals in France:-)
