Strolling, always strolling right through my dreams in Paris! In the 7th arrondissement this day in May 2014 at 79, rue de Varennes! Sculptures, plaster-figures, sketches and strangely enough, photographs. The museum is Rodin’s (even though to me it also belongs to Camille by her first name and Claudel by her last name), but in this fifth month when the days seem like holidays, it’s Rodin and Mapplethorpe that I will bring together. Two men, two destinies, two eras, two interpreters of shapes and matter. Two opposites and yet so similar: a will for pureness and simplicity, a desire for aesthetic precision. A total refusal of tricks and an enthusiasm for pure and symmetrically original lines.

Rodin and Mapplethorpe has the passion for forms, harmony and perfection. It’s time for me to take my undisciplined strolling and let it be lost at the Grand Palais. Only Mapplethorpe makes his appearance there and frees himself until July 13th, at the very heart of the great church which echoes the epicenter of his life: aestheticism, symmetry, perfection and above all, passion. Patti Smith, Lisa Lyon, Nicky Waymouth.. They all appear, offering him a final homage under the horizon of one of the most sacred cathedrals.

Credits:

Words by Sophie Faucillion, translation by Lovisa Vasiliou.

Links: Pictures from Musée Rodin, Paris, France. Mapplethorp Rodin exhibition between April 8th – September 21th, 2014.