Rodin, Antiquity is my youth

"The antique masterpieces are bound up in my memory with all the joys of my teenage years : or rather, Antiquity is my youth itself, now welling up in my heart".

Antiquity is My Youth retraces the origins and the history of a collection which took over both the studio and the imagination of the sculptor. With a catalogue of 6,400 works, from ancient times to the early 19th century, the Auguste Rodin collection is a way of exploring the powerful link forged between an objet d'art and its owner, its admirer. The Antique as an object of desire, a foil, a source of inspiration or regret, as an exhibit or as an ingredient for further sculpture in its own right - this book attempts to identify the many uses to which such a collection may be put. Bénédicte Garnier, who has a Doctorate in the History of Art and is responsible for Antiques at the Musée Rodin, manages to transform an essay into a vision. She takes us behind the eyes of a sculptor looking at his collection, showing us the passions, the familiarities and above all the creative challenges. With her multiple lines of approach, her concise style and her clear analysis, Bénédicte Garnier offers here a lively interpretation of Rodin's collection of antiques.