Resumen de Auguste Rodin dans la Grande Guerre: le génie instrumentalisé ?
Far from a time of art for art's sake the period of World War I - the "Great War" was one of patriotic salvaging. August Rodin, of international renown, was perceived during this period as an emblem of the triumph of French culture. The sculptor, himself, agreed that the Germans were inferior to the French, and that only massive militarization could come to the aid of a downtrodden, damaged France. Discharged because of his advanced age, ill and exiled far from Paris at the beginning of the war, he offered the support of his renown to charitable works destined to aid the victims of the war. He also participated, without especially seeking it out, in French commemoration by donating a large sculpture, La Défense, erected on the sacred ground of Verdun after the artist's death. The opening of the Musée Rodin, project dearest to him, occurred during this rousing period, animated by stormy debates about the image of French art. Rodin's sculpture, more than ever the pride of the country, while at the same time far from being academic, finally entered into the legend of the Republic.
