Reproduction In Rodin's The Gates Of Hell, Crowd Gate

Art critic, John Berger, says, “Reproduction isolates a detail of a painting from the whole”(Berger 154). This seems like a very candid and closed minded view of what reproduction is. This simply gives an example of what reproductions can look like and not what reproduction really is. What does he think about reproduction that puts a more modern perspective on an old piece of art? Well, that is exactly what Rodrigo Lara Zendejas does with her piece, Crowd Gate. In 1917 Auguste Rodin created the sculpture The Gates of Hell, and 100 years later it was recreated with a twist. By changing a few details of Rodin’s art, Zendejas created a new, and unique project. What if a replication is used not to isolate a detail from the whole, and instead is added to a grander project? This was the …show more content…
In this sculpture Rodin combined multiple sculptures he had created in the past to make one mega composition, some of the artworks included: The Thinker, The age of Bronze, The Three Shades, and many more. These duplications added to the artwork fill in the spaces in a very meaningful way. The majority of the figures in this artistic production are twisted grotesquely, giving emphasis to the ones that are not in this fashion. The main figure who is not in a awkward position is the thinker. He sits on a platform between the doors and the frame of the gate, looking down at the door. Why would the artist choose to call a collage of his artwork The Gates of Hell? Like much of his art work, The Gates of Hell was seen by the public as quite controversial. How does this sculpture help us see how Rodin views religion? After his sister's death, Rodin became conflicted with the ideas of religion, deciding it was not for him ("Auguste Rodin" 2017). Perhaps this also plays a role in the way he perceives Hell; based