Bathing Woman

Rodin’s oeuvre became one of the pillars of modern art. This drawing formed an integral part of his sculptural work; the artist did not perceive it as a mere preliminary, preparatory phase for his sculptures, but as an art form in its own right. His drawings were innovative in that he drew from a freely moving model. The method required a different type of drawing, as well as speed and alertness. All had to be expressed by the contour lines, the figure’s inner volume and the use of the watercolour medium. This liberal approach to the represented reality, that also had its parallels in his sculptural creations, had far−reaching effects on his further artistic development. The drawing A Bathing Woman cannot be regarded as a visual recording of a specific situation, but much more as the artist’s subsequent interpretation of it. Rodin donated the drawing to Zdenka Braunerová, a Czech painter and graphic artist, who was the sculptor’s intimate guide during his visit to Bohemia in 1902 on the occasion of his Prague exhibition.