Perseus With The Head Of Medusa Analysis

Hot and Heavy: The Passionate Collaboration between Claudel and Rodin The myth of Medusa and Perseus, the “archetypal sculptors,” defines the dynamic between Camille Claudel and August Rodin (Higonnet 15). Rodin identified with Perseus when one of his favorite sculptors and source of inspiration, Benvenuto Cellini, interpreted of the famous myth in the sculpture, Perseus with the Head of Medusa (1545). Like Medusa, Camille Claudel used her sight to craft daring sculptures that pushed the boundaries of the social propriety expected of a woman. Like Perseus grabbing Medusa’s head, Auguste Rodin took on Claudel as a studio assistant who had the unique ability he lacked, carving marble. Through their tumultuous relationship, the two sculptors

The positioning of both figures is dramatic and athletic. The man holds the weight of the woman as she arches her back into it. He is in an elevated position sitting on a rock as she is draped across his arm with her lower body kneeling on the floor. The man wields the power in the relationship and molds the woman with his touch. Rodin suggests that men easily manipulate women to do their will with their touch. The female figure, in her positioning, cannot hold up her own weight and relies on the man to carry her. Rodin uses this to hint at his own male prowess with women. He perpetrates the convention that woman are sexualized objects even though he sculpts both figures in the nude. The male’s leg covers his genitals – this is significant because the male’s penis is typically out on display as an extension of his masculinity (Elsen 494-495). Yet, Rodin leaves the woman’s vagina uncovered and out on display. The figures are joined from head to hip as if they are one, where one’s curves end, the other fills the gaps between their bodies. The male ripples with muscles as the woman is very voluptuous. Rodin confirms to standards of beauty and the idealized form. This work was originally named Zephyr and Earth, another reference to

Perseus is portrayed as the hero triumphing over the demon and raising her powerless head as her trophy. After the severance of their relationship, Claudel created Perseus and the Gorgon (1902), a six-foot-tall marble statue. Claudel drew inspiration from Cellini, one of Rodin’s influences, and she used this to spite him, twisting the narrative of the myth. Perseus still holds Medusa’s head but the danger of the situation is still evident. Claudel highlights the tool Perseus uses to eventually defeat Medusa by fixing the gaze of both Perseus and Medusa on to the reflective material of the shield. Claudel drapes a cloth around Perseus’s body, hiding his genitals from the viewer’s eyes and removing the physical representation of his masculinity. Perseus is not burdened by excessive muscles; he is lean almost feminine. Claudel carves her own self-portrait onto Medusa’s face to show how mutually destructive Claudel and Rodin’s relationship was (Schmoll 94-98). Although Perseus murdered Medusa, she still wields the power to kill