Love Turning the World 1881

Curator: Before us is Auguste Rodin's "Love Turning the World," created around 1881. It's a drawing, a print, residing here at The Met. Editor: It’s dreamlike. All those loosely sketched figures tumbling around this…globe? The texture gives it an ethereal quality, like looking at a memory. Curator: That sketchiness speaks to Rodin’s working methods, doesn't it? He wasn’t afraid to leave visible traces of the process. We see the pencil marks, the layering of lines; we are witnesses to the making. This hints at the immense labor, the physical struggle Rodin engaged with through materiality itself. Editor: Indeed, the contrast of light and shadow directs our eyes along the circular form. The figures intertwined within and clinging to this globe create an impression of constant motion. Rodin expertly uses line weight and density to convey depth and texture, achieving a sense of volume despite the drawing's spare aesthetic. The composition almost traps your gaze. Curator: I am stuck thinking about how many of Rodin’s works addressed labor, particularly reproductive labor and its visibility. To me this globe may very well represent not just Earth but all human society laboring on. How interesting that some are being tossed off while others labor away. And for what purpose? Editor: Fascinating idea. Structurally, the spiral motion leading from the darker, grounded figures to the more illuminated ones near the apex, communicates aspiration, the drive towards transcendence. It echoes those grand allegorical ceiling paintings. Curator: While there's aspiration in artistic drive as well as beauty to be gleaned here, for me, I feel challenged to look beyond traditional value assignments in art and labor. Editor: I leave now also more pensive as to how our individual actions can create larger collective impacts within existing hierarchical structures. Thank you.