#creative constraints

Auguste would attend art school at Petite Ecole, where his poor eyesight was finally discovered by a professor. Rodin excelled at drawing and by 1857 and won the school’s drawing prize. His desire was to do more than draw. He wanted to bring his art to life in three dimensions. He excelled in all areas of art except for one primary skillset required of a sculptor. The rendering of the human form. To grow his skill set, Rodin needed to attend the Grande Ecole (2). He applied and passed the drawing exams but failed sculpture courses and was denied entry. Auguste re-applied to get in over successive semesters and was denied twice more when he decided to give up on art school altogether. In 1858 needing to support himself, the eighteen-year-old Rodin took a job stirring plaster and creating molds for building ornaments. Even though he was a cog in an assembly line, he learned to work with plaster. Disappointed and depressed, he questioned whether he’d ever become an artist (3).

Graduating from decorative plaster, Rodin would later work as a trade sculptor and practice his art in the morning before work and at night. The first studio he rented was a barely a converted horse stable. It consumed what little money Auguste had. This left him no money to hire models to sculpt from. He made do with amateurs willing to accept what small payment he could offer. A Greek Handyman Bibi was happy to provide his services to Rodin and would sit for him in exchange for some spare change. Bibi had a broken nose and a face that Rodin described as “Hideous.” It took him 18 months to complete a bust of Bibi in 1863 (4). 

Around the time Rodin was about to submit the bust to be showcased in the Paris Salon, the temperature in his makeshift studio dipped below freezing, and the back of the terra-cotta sculpture broke off and shattered. Contemplating how the bust now looked, he decided it actually looked better this way. More of a mask than a traditional bust. In Rachel Corbett’s book, You Must Change Your Life: The Story of Rainer Maria Rilke and Auguste Rodin, she described Rodin’s art beginning with circumstance and constraints. “The mask now bore the reality of Bibi and Rodin’s impoverishment on its surface, expressing the coldness of life in the most literal way.” (5)

Auguste submitted the work as a mask versus a bust. It was rejected multiple times. For Rodin, the mask was a creative breakthrough. It would come to inform his fundamental philosophy behind his art. That beauty was about truth and not perfection. He summed up this philosophy in his statement, “There is nothing ugly in art except that which is without character (6).” Ultimately perfection is something people have a hard time relating to. But people can empathize with wrinkles and scars. At the time, sculptors created monuments of military heroes or mythological characters. While Rodin sculpted the ordinary or the ugly, a renegade move on his part. It was in line with his creative philosophy, but critics rejected him for it. 

He left Paris for Florence, Italy, to see and study the work of the masters such as Michelangelo. Studying every contour and curve, he noticed how expressive decisions were made with a form that differed significantly from the Greek statues he studied at the Louvre. Upon Auguste’s return to France, inspired he began to work his next major sculpture, The Age of Bronze. He found a model in a young Belgian Soldier. He tried to capture the soldier in precise detail. He spent three months on one leg alone. It took him a year and a half to complete the entire sculpture. For the first time in 1877, he was accepted into the Salon. The French government even asked to purchase a version of the sculpture for the city. Upon the Salon’s opening, the critics railed against the work, stating this was a study, an accurate copy, and not a real work of sculpture. In other words, not a work of art. The government sent in experts to validate whether or not Rodin created a cast from the model himself. He begged officials to look at photographs of the model who had much more significant proportions than the actual sculpture proving it couldn’t have been a plaster copy (7).

After three years of protest, a newly appointed arts undersecretary re-issued the order for the city to have a version of the bronze sculpture and in an act of goodwill, gave the artist a new commission. The commission was to design the entrance for the new museum of decorative arts that was to be built. Auguste wanted to prove himself with this commission and would embark on his most ambitious piece yet. He’d propose the most immense monumental doors Paris had ever seen. A twenty-foot large bronze gate with over two hundred figures inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy. With the commission, the government also granted him a new studio in their Marble Depot. However, the compensation for the commission was small, and he still had to work his day job in a porcelain factory. He would spend a decade manufacturing vases while working on this new project.  The work was The Gates of Hell, which would become his life long all-consuming work of art. 

A work that August placed at the top of the gates was an anonymous man, engaging not in a heroic act but in contemplation. In an unorthodox fashion, he started with the torso. What began as a 27-inch figure was later tripled in size when cast in bronze, originally titled The Poet, possibly after Dante or Baudelaire. The work he would rename as The Thinker was his depiction of what it meant to be an artist. A common man who struggled in labor to produce work (8). The gates would continue to be worked on and re-worked as Rodin was a non-stop tinkerer. A man with many projects, sketches, and dreams, rarely bringing things to completion. 

When Rodin turned 50, he confused critics more than ever before. Rodin never apprenticed with a living master and had a rough quality to his work. Instead of trying to smooth out mistakes, he highlighted them, which was in tune with his artistic philosophy of expressing character not perfection. 

The French impressionists, such as Paul Cezanne, were deeply moved by his work and defended in public. He began working on a monument to Balzac that should have taken him 18 months but eventually took him seven years. Which would earn him the admiration of the English. Rodin captured Balzac in the most honest form possible. Depicting how Balzac looked in his study when gripped in thought, hair disordered and casually dressed. People reacted to its debut in 1898, in horror believing Rodin had turned their beloved author into a monster. Rodin’s friends came to the defense of statue including, Oscar Wilde, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Baudelaire. All the controversy over the statue fueled offers to buy the sculpture. To add additional drama, Auguste decided not to sell. Although not popular in France, the depiction of Balzac began to build a fan base in England.

English artists began migrating to Paris to study with Rodin, and demand for his teaching became so high that he was able to open up his own school in 1899. Still, somewhat of an artistic outcast in France, he spent time trying to raise funds to participate in the 1900’s World’s Fair. The city had not invited him to show at the event but stated they might allow him to show his work on municipal land provided he could provide his own pavilion. The city council was very slow, approving his request to use a patch of land at the intersection of Cour-la-Reine and Avenue Montaigne. A sympathetic politician who moonlighted as a poet found a way to push the proposal through. 

Not a missing a beat, Rodin spent all of his savings and got loans from three bankers to build a six-sided, Louis XVI-style pavilion to resemble a green-house so light could hit his sculptures in the right way when viewed by the public. This project so all-consuming he closed his newly created school to see it through (9). Rodin managed to install 165 sculptures in the pavilion and was his largest exhibition to date, this included Balzac, The Thinker, and various sculpted fragments of body parts. 

Although the pavilion had little to no traffic from the public, it attracted other artists, poets and photographers, which lead to even more commissions such as a bust requested by George Bernard Shaw. Through a new relationship, he also managed to start selling sculptures to a wealthy industrialist who donated them to the Metropolitan Museum. 

After half a century of rejection, the city of Paris agreed to erect The Thinker in front of the Pantheon’s grand staircase. It was seen as a make-good for France’s mistreatment of the artist (10). 

References

Christoforou, Marie. “8 Things You Should Know about Auguste Rodin." Artsper Magazine, 29 Aug. 2018, blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/8-things-know-auguste-rodin/.

Corbett, Rachel. You Must Change Your Life: The Story of Rainer Maria Rilke and Auguste Rodin. W.W. Norton and Company, 2017, p. 9.

Idem, p. 10. 

Idem, p. 32.

Idem, p. 33.

Idem, p. 34.

Idem, p. 37.

Idem, p. 40.

Idem, p. 59.

Kawakubo’s initial instincts were to be self-sufficient. She found a gig at the bottom of the ladder at an advertising agency of a textile manufacturer, Asahi Kasei. She had no desire to wear the traditional uniform of the company and refused. Her boss gave her some freedom in dress and also in scouting props and costumes for photoshoots. After a couple years on the job, one of her colleagues who’d later become an influential fashion journalist encouraged Kawakubo to go freelance as a stylist in 1969 (1). Dissatisfied with the clothes that she was given for photoshoots she started making her own clothing. This was with zero training in fashion or a formal design education. Her unique vision came from seeing things as a stylistic whole and thinking about what would make an interesting image. As opposed to focusing on a single article of clothing. The clothes that she made for photo shoots, Kawakubo would later sell to maintain her independence (2). She sold them under the label Comme des Garçon as she liked the way the French sounded. By 1969 she was using whatever funds she had from her stylist work to create a youthful sportswear line that was carried in trendsetting shops. She rented a space in a graphic arts studio and hired a few assistants. After a decade by 1980, Commes des Garçon would grow to have a hundred and fifty franchised shops across Japan (3).

Kawakubo describes her early creative success as a result of focusing on her independence. “I tried to achieve my aim which was to do something by myself, Kawakubo explains further, "Oh, of course, I loved to work in the fashion world, but as a first priority, I wanted to work as an independent person. I just happened to find my own job in the fashion field.” Fans of the brand were obsessed. The aesthetic at this time was inspired by the loose and rustic garb of Japanese fisherman and peasants. At the age of 40 in 1981, although well known in Japan Kawakubo was an unknown in the west, she had her first runway show in Paris. The show caused controversy but also put Comme des Garcon on the map, Kawakubo’s response, "I only came to Paris with the intention of showing what I thought was strong and beautiful. It just so happened that my notion was different from everybody else’s.” Her alternative view to that of the fashion establishment also applied to other areas of her business. She would typically work with models that were overlooked by other fashion houses. Again she’d look at a model as a whole person. This included both image and attitude. Kawakubo would find one of the traits she values most in the models. Independence. In Kawakubo’s words, “People interest me. I am inspired by the people surrounding me. Beautiful or stylish is a personal feeling. I don’t have a definition of beauty. I don’t have an establishment view of what beauty is. My idea of beauty keeps changing. When I choose models, I like a strong, independent person, maybe who is disliked by other people. I want to see an all over feeling, not just from an architectural point of view. I want to see wide angle (4).”

Another critical component of her continual creative breakthroughs, in addition to going against the grain, is the strong desire to create something entirely new every season. Kawakubo call’s the process starting from zero. Not building on what was done previously or relying on hits from last season. She tries to minimize as much outside influence as possible. As she noted, it gets harder and harder to start from zero as you get older. You begin to acquire more and more baggage. Kawakubo agonizes over trying to get something new with every collection. She enjoys the journey no matter how hard it is. "It’s boring if things are accomplished too easily, right? When I work, I think about the excitement of achievement after hard effort and pain (5).” This inward creative focus is also imparted on her staff. Her directive to them is to find the new, but doesn’t want to influence the results by describing in exact detail what her vision his. They look inward instead of to her to uncover the new. This includes everyone from the pattern cutters and designers.

Attention to detail and trying to push the boundary of what’s possible put Comme des Garçon in a class of its own. This attention to detail is part of the brand’s DNA. The clothes aren’t expensive because of the name that’s on it but because of the experimental techniques that are used to make them as Kawakubo explains, “My Clothes perhaps end up expensive, not because the company is making a huge profit, but because we create special fabric, and there are certain techniques involving lots of details. Instead of buying three pieces of clothing in a month or a year, why not buy one thing they can afford and enjoy it. Rather than a lot of clothes, I wish people would value creativity so that the world would not be filled up with rubbish clothes.” Kawakubo also resists the uniformity of machines in the process. She doesn’t want things to be perfect, she wants them to be human. Kawakubo hints at the idea of special wrongness. The unique quirks that make something special. Kawakubo explains, “The machines that make fabric are more and more making uniform, flawless textures. I like it when something is off - not perfect. Hand weaving is the best way to achieve this. Since this isn’t always possible, we loosen a screw of the machines here and there so they can’t do exactly what they’re supposed to do (6).”

Kawakubo has built her creative empire through making. Creating is the first priority. She is famously private. Kawakubo rarely gives interviews and is not active in the fashion entertainment press. Her clothes and her work do all the talking. Kawakubo stresses the importance of silence, “Silence is very important to me. I find being alone rather relaxing. I must be a very obstinate woman (7)." It’s clear to me that she is tapping into her introverted superpowers. Looking inside for inspiration, not getting influences from elsewhere. She takes this same approach with the Comme des Garçon brand actively cultivating talent internally. She asks her designers if they want their own line.  It takes a ton of confidence in your own creativity to do that. But I also think it’s how she keeps the team motivated to discover the new. The team doesn’t toil in obscurity for the sake of her name and the Comme des Garcon brand. This is a very unselfish move. She does because she put herself in the shoes of her designers. It probably attracts top talent for the brand. Examples of her team who have created their own lines include the founder of Sacai, Chitose Abe and Kawakubo's protege Junya Watanabe who not only has is own line but has notable collaborations with Converse, Puma, Carhartt, and North Face (8).

Other designers that have struck out on their own with Kawakubo’s backing who ultimately weren’t cut out for the task could come back into the Comme des Garçon fold and work for Kawakubo. Experimentation without consequence. She instinctively knows that allowing her designers to build their own brands and labels ultimately make Commes des Garcon brand stronger.  It makes Commes des Garçon a magnet for design talent. Knowing there are opportunities to maximize their own creative potential with the support of Kawakubo. This philosophy also extends to the new retail experiences she’s built with her partner Adrian Joffre in Dover Street Market.

Dover Street Market retail concept was started in 2004 on a side street in London’s Mayfair district. Rent for the space came as a whole, and it was a ton of space. The couple didn’t want to share the area on someone’s else terms so they would lease out the whole space and do things their way. Inspired by the stalls of Kensington Market they wanted to put together different designers together in a sort of marketplace. A fundamental tenet was putting established designers alongside emerging designers creating a unique offering over traditional retailers. It took people some getting used to, they didn’t initially understand it and would describe it as being “mixed up.” Kawakubo and Joffe’s response was, “deal with it. It’s not like the department store; this is different.” There is a mix of pop-ups, special collaborations, and art installations. The precursor to Dover Street Markets would be temporary as what they referred to as guerilla store in various cities around the globe, which included Reykjavik, Warsaw, Barcelona, Stockholm, Athens, and Beirut. Permanent Dover Street Markets can be found in London, New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Singapore, and Beijing. The shops close up and change format regularly to bring in a new mix of art and collaborations. They cost a fraction of what their luxury counterparts invest in their spaces although they carry capsule collections or unique collaborations from the same luxury brands in their shop. Content matters, more importantly, diversity of content with a unique point of view. Walking through a Dover Street Market is definitely a unique experience, not something that could be easily replicated online.

All growth to date is organic and in the service of creativity. Comme des Garçon is more like an ecosystem versus a hierarchical brand. Brand extensions and products lines expand freely off of Comme des Garcon’s core brand. It’s a very flat structure. According to Joffe, “We keep things on a parallel level, we can’t grow deeply, we’re not big enough or rich enough to open flagship stores around the world like multi-national corporations, so we have to grow the company laterally. That’s why we’ve got 17 brands. We’ve just got to continue, organically and naturally. Slowly, slowly, little growth. We don’t want to double overnight. We’ve never had investors or anything like that." What they are doing is working. Dover Street Market now makes $130 million/year across five stores which is a 130 percent increase over last year (9).

At the age of 70 Rei Kawakubo continues to be a force in the fashion world. Comme des Garçon generates $220 million in revenues and employs over 800 people (10). Creativity remains to be the critical priority not only for Kawakubo but for the brands and designers she touches. And constant change fuels growth.

References

1. Thurman, Judith. “The Unsettling Vision of Rei Kawakubo.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 10 July 2017, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/07/04/the-misfit-3.

2. Kawakubo, Rei, and Terry Jones. Rei Kawakubo: Designer Monographs. Taschen, 2012.

3. Thurman, Judith. “The Unsettling Vision of Rei Kawakubo.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 10 July 2017, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/07/04/the-misfit-3.

4. Kawakubo, Rei, and Terry Jones. Rei Kawakubo: Designer Monographs. Taschen, 2012.

5. Ibid

6. Ibid

7. Ibid

8. Rabkin, Eugene. “The Children of Comme.” The Business of Fashion, The Business of Fashion, 6 May 2015, www.businessoffashion.com/articles/people/the-children-of-comme.

9. Marshall, Alexandra. “Dover Street Market Expands While Defying Retail Convention.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 14 Aug. 2018, www.wsj.com/articles/dover-street-market-expands-while-defying-retail-convention-1534253394.