François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
, generally considered the founder of modern
sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, and deeply pocketed surface in
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
. He is known for such sculptures as ''
The Thinker
''The Thinker'' (french: Le Penseur) is a bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled tradi ...
'', ''
Monument to Balzac
''Monument to Balzac'' is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin in memory of the French novelist Honoré de Balzac. According to Rodin, the sculpture aims to portray the writer's persona rather than a physical likeness. The work was commissioned in 1891 ...
'', ''
The Kiss'', ''
The Burghers of Calais
''The Burghers of Calais'' (french: Les Bourgeois de Calais) is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin in twelve original castings and numerous copies. It commemorates an event during the Hundred Years' War, when Calais, a French port on the English Cha ...
'', and ''
The Gates of Hell
''The Gates of Hell'' (french: La Porte de l'Enfer) is a monumental bronze sculptural group work by French artist Auguste Rodin that depicts a scene from the ''Inferno'', the first section of Dante Alighieri's ''Divine Comedy''. It stands at 6 ...
''.
Many of Rodin's most notable sculptures were criticized, as they clashed with predominant figurative sculpture traditions in which works were decorative, formulaic, or highly
thematic. Rodin's most original work departed from traditional themes of mythology and
allegory
As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...
. He modeled the human body with naturalism, and his sculptures celebrate individual character and physicality. Although Rodin was sensitive to the controversy surrounding his work, he refused to change his style, and his continued output brought increasing favor from the government and the artistic community.
From the unexpected naturalism of Rodin's first major figure – inspired by his 1875 trip to Italy – to the unconventional memorials whose commissions he later sought, his reputation grew, and Rodin became the preeminent French sculptor of his time. By 1900, he was a world-renowned artist. Wealthy private clients sought Rodin's work after his
World's Fair
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
exhibit, and he kept company with a variety of high-profile intellectuals and artists. His student,
Camille Claudel
Camille Rosalie Claudel (; 8 December 1864 19 October 1943) was a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble. She died in relative obscurity, but later gained recognition for the originality and quality of her work. The ...
, became his associate, lover, and creative rival. Rodin's other students included
Antoine Bourdelle
Antoine Bourdelle (30 October 1861 – 1 October 1929), born Émile Antoine Bordelles, was an influential and prolific French sculptor and teacher. He was a student of Auguste Rodin, a teacher of Giacometti and Henri Matisse, and an important fi ...
,
Constantin Brâncuși
Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian Sculpture, sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century and a pioneer of ...
, and
Charles Despiau
Charles Despiau (November 4, 1874 – October 28, 1946) was a French sculptor.
Early life
Charles-Albert Despiau was born at Mont-de-Marsan, Landes and attended first the École des Arts Décoratifs and later the École nationale supérieure de ...
. He married his lifelong companion,
Rose Beuret
Rose Beuret, born Marie Rose Beuret on 9 June, 1844 in Vecqueville (Haute-Marne) and died on 14 February, 1917 in Meudon, was a French seamstress and laundress, known to have been one of the muses and, for 53 years, the companion of Auguste Rod ...
, in the last year of both their lives. His sculptures suffered a decline in popularity after his death in 1917, but within a few decades his legacy solidified. Rodin remains one of the few sculptors widely known outside the visual arts community.
Biography
Formative years
Rodin was born in 1840 into a working-class family in Paris, the second child of Marie Cheffer and Jean-Baptiste Rodin, who was a police department clerk. He was largely self-educated, and began to draw at age 10. Between ages 14 and 17, he attended the ''Petite École'', a school specializing in art and mathematics where he studied drawing and painting. His drawing teacher
Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran
Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran (May 14, 1802 – August 7, 1897) was a French artist and teacher.
He was born in Paris. Boisbaudran was admitted in 1819 to the École des Beaux-Arts where he studied under Peyron and Guillon Lethière. He exhibited ...
believed in first developing the personality of his students so that they observed with their own eyes and drew from their recollections, and Rodin expressed appreciation for his teacher much later in life. It was at Petite École that he met
Jules Dalou
Aimé-Jules Dalou (31 December 183815 April 1902) was a 19th-century French sculptor, admired for his perceptiveness, execution, and unpretentious realism.
Early life
Born in Paris to a working-class family of Huguenot background, he was raised ...
and
Alphonse Legros
Alphonse Legros (8 May 1837 – 8 December 1911) was a French, later British, painter, etcher, sculptor, and medallist. He moved to London in 1863 and later took British citizenship. He was important as a teacher in the British etching rev ...
.
![Auguste Rodin, Paris, c1862 by Charles Hippolyte Aubry](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Auguste_Rodin%2C_Paris%2C_c1862_by_Charles_Hippolyte_Aubry.jpg)
In 1857, Rodin submitted a clay model of a companion to the
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...
in an attempt to win entrance; he did not succeed, and two further applications were also denied.
Entrance requirements were not particularly high at the ''Grande École'', so the rejections were considerable setbacks. Rodin's inability to gain entrance may have been due to the judges'
Neoclassical tastes, while Rodin had been schooled in light, 18th-century sculpture. He left the ''Petite École'' in 1857 and earned a living as a craftsman and ornamenter for most of the next two decades, producing decorative objects and architectural embellishments.
Rodin's sister Maria, two years his senior, died of
peritonitis
Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and cover of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One part or ...
in a convent in 1862, and Rodin was anguished with guilt because he had introduced her to an unfaithful suitor. He turned away from art and joined the Catholic order of the
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
The Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament ( la, Congregatio Sanctissimi Sacramenti), commonly known as the Sacramentinos is a Catholic Clerical Religious Congregation of Pontifical Right for men (priests, deacons, and brothers) founded by St. ...
. Saint
Peter Julian Eymard
Peter Julian Eymard ( ; 4 February 1811 – 1 August 1868) was a French Catholic priest and founder of two religious institutes: the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament for men and the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament for women.
Eymard ente ...
, founder and head of the congregation, recognized Rodin's talent and sensed his lack of suitability for the order, so he encouraged Rodin to continue with his sculpture. Rodin returned to work as a decorator while taking classes with animal sculptor
Antoine-Louis Barye
Antoine-Louis Barye (24 September 179525 June 1875) was a Romantic French sculptor most famous for his work as an ''animalier'', a sculptor of animals. His son and student was the known sculptor Alfred Barye.
Biography
Born in Paris, France, B ...
. The teacher's attention to detail and his finely rendered musculature of animals in motion significantly influenced Rodin.
In 1864, Rodin began to live with a young seamstress named
Rose Beuret
Rose Beuret, born Marie Rose Beuret on 9 June, 1844 in Vecqueville (Haute-Marne) and died on 14 February, 1917 in Meudon, was a French seamstress and laundress, known to have been one of the muses and, for 53 years, the companion of Auguste Rod ...
(born in June 1844), with whom he stayed for the rest of his life, with varying commitment. The couple had a son named Auguste-Eugène Beuret (1866–1934). That year, Rodin offered his first sculpture for exhibition and entered the studio of
Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse
Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (born Albert-Ernest Carrier de Belleuse; 12 June 1824 – 4 June 1887) was a French sculptor. He was one of the founding members of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, and was made an officer of the Legion of H ...
, a successful mass producer of ''objets d'art''. Rodin worked as Carrier-Belleuse' chief assistant until 1870, designing roof decorations and staircase and doorway embellishments. With the arrival of the
Franco-Prussian War, Rodin was called to serve in the French National Guard, but his service was brief due to his near-sightedness. Decorators' work had dwindled because of the war, yet Rodin needed to support his family, as poverty was a continual difficulty for him until about the age of 30.
[Jianou & Goldscheider, 35.] Carrier-Belleuse soon asked him to join him in Belgium, where they worked on ornamentation for the
Brussels Stock Exchange
The Brussels Stock Exchange (french: Bourse de Bruxelles, nl, Beurs van Brussel), abbreviated to BSE, was founded in Brussels, Belgium, by decree of Napoleon in 1801. In 2002, the BSE merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon and Paris stock exchang ...
.
Rodin planned to stay in Belgium a few months, but he spent the next six years outside of France. It was a pivotal time in his life.
He had acquired skill and experience as a craftsman, but no one had yet seen his art, which sat in his workshop since he could not afford castings. His relationship with Carrier-Belleuse had deteriorated, but he found other employment in Brussels, displaying some works at salons, and his companion Rose soon joined him there. Having saved enough money to travel, Rodin visited Italy for two months in 1875, where he was drawn to the work of
Donatello
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi ( – 13 December 1466), better known as Donatello ( ), was a Republic of Florence, Florentine sculptor of the Renaissance period. Born in Republic of Florence, Florence, he studied classical sculpture and use ...
and
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
. Their work had a profound effect on his artistic direction. Rodin said, "It is Michelangelo who has freed me from academic sculpture." Returning to Belgium, he began work on ''
The Age of Bronze
''The Age of Bronze'' (french: L'Âge d'airain) is a bronze statue by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840–1917). The figure is of a life-size nude male, 72 in. (182.9 cm) high. Rodin continued to produce casts of the statue for ...
'', a life-size male figure whose naturalism brought Rodin attention but led to accusations of sculptural cheatingits naturalism and scale was such that critics alleged he had cast the work from a living model. Much of Rodin's later work was explicitly larger or smaller than life, in part to demonstrate the folly of such accusations.
Artistic independence
![Auguste Rodin, 1884](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Auguste_Rodin%2C_1884.jpg)
Rose Beuret and Rodin returned to Paris in 1877, moving into a small flat on the
Left Bank
In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography, as follows.
In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrai ...
. Misfortune surrounded Rodin: his mother, who had wanted to see her son marry, was dead, and his father was blind and senile, cared for by Rodin's sister-in-law, Aunt Thérèse. Rodin's eleven-year-old son Auguste, possibly developmentally delayed, was also in the ever-helpful Thérèse's care. Rodin had essentially abandoned his son for six years, and would have a very limited relationship with him throughout his life. Father and son joined the couple in their flat, with Rose as caretaker. Charges of fakery surrounding ''The Age of Bronze'' continued. Rodin increasingly sought soothing female companionship in Paris, and Rose stayed in the background.
Rodin earned his living collaborating with more established sculptors on public commissions, primarily memorials and
neo-baroque architectural pieces in the style of
Carpeaux.
[Janson, 638.] In competitions for commissions he submitted models of
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a promine ...
,
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...
, and
Lazare Carnot
Lazare Nicolas Marguerite, Count Carnot (; 13 May 1753 – 2 August 1823) was a French mathematician, physicist and politician. He was known as the "Organizer of Victory" in the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.
Education and early ...
, all to no avail. On his own time, he worked on studies leading to the creation of his next important work, ''St. John the Baptist Preaching''.
In 1880, Carrier-Belleuse – then art director of the
Sèvres
Sèvres (, ) is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Île-de-France region. The commune, which had a population of 23,251 as of 2018, is known for i ...
national
porcelain
Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...
factory – offered Rodin a part-time position as a designer. The offer was in part a gesture of reconciliation, and Rodin accepted. That part of Rodin which appreciated 18th-century tastes was aroused, and he immersed himself in designs for vases and table ornaments that brought the factory renown across Europe.
The artistic community appreciated his work in this vein, and Rodin was invited to
Paris Salon
The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...
s by such friends as writer
Léon Cladel
Léon Cladel (Montauban, 22 March 1834 – 21 July 1892, Sèvres) was a French novelist.
The son of an artisan, he studied law at Toulouse and became a solicitor's clerk in Paris. Cladel made a limited reputation by his first book, ''Les Ma ...
. During his early appearances at these social events, Rodin seemed shy;
[Hale, 71.] in his later years, as his fame grew, he displayed the loquaciousness and temperament for which he is better known. French statesman
Leon Gambetta
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...
expressed a desire to meet Rodin, and the sculptor impressed him when they met at a salon. Gambetta spoke of Rodin in turn to several government ministers, likely including , the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Fine Arts, whom Rodin eventually met.
Rodin's relationship with Turquet was rewarding: through him, he won the 1880 commission to create a
portal
Portal often refers to:
* Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnel
Portal may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Gaming
* ''Portal'' (series), two video games ...
for a planned museum of decorative arts. Rodin dedicated much of the next four decades to his elaborate ''
Gates of Hell
''The Gates of Hell'' (french: La Porte de l'Enfer) is a monumental bronze sculptural group work by French artist Auguste Rodin that depicts a scene from the ''Inferno'', the first section of Dante Alighieri's ''Divine Comedy''. It stands at 6 ...
'', an unfinished portal for a museum that was never built. Many of the portal's figures became sculptures in themselves, including Rodin's most famous, ''
The Thinker
''The Thinker'' (french: Le Penseur) is a bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled tradi ...
'' and ''
The Kiss''. With the museum commission came a free studio, granting Rodin a new level of artistic freedom. Soon, he stopped working at the porcelain factory; his income came from private commissions.
In 1883, Rodin agreed to supervise a course for sculptor
Alfred Boucher
Alfred Boucher (23 September 1850 – 1934) was a French sculptor who was a mentor to Camille Claudel and a friend of Auguste Rodin.
Biography
Born in Bouy-sur-Ovin (Nogent-sur-Seine), he was the son of a farmhand who became the gardener of the s ...
in his absence, where he met the 18-year-old
Camille Claudel
Camille Rosalie Claudel (; 8 December 1864 19 October 1943) was a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble. She died in relative obscurity, but later gained recognition for the originality and quality of her work. The ...
. The two formed a passionate but stormy relationship and influenced each other artistically. Claudel inspired Rodin as a model for many of his figures, and she was a talented sculptor, assisting him on commissions as well as creating her own works. Her ''
Bust of Rodin'' was displayed to critical acclaim at the 1892 Salon.
![Auguste Rodin par Camille Claudel (musée Rodin) (8026456955)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Auguste_Rodin_par_Camille_Claudel_%28mus%C3%A9e_Rodin%29_%288026456955%29.jpg)
Although busy with ''The Gates of Hell'', Rodin won other commissions. He pursued an opportunity to create a historical monument for the town of
Calais
Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...
. For a monument to French author
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...
, Rodin was chosen in 1891. His execution of both sculptures clashed with traditional tastes, and met with varying degrees of disapproval from the organizations that sponsored the commissions. Still, Rodin was gaining support from diverse sources that propelled him toward fame.
In 1889, the Paris Salon invited Rodin to be a judge on its artistic jury. Though Rodin's career was on the rise, Claudel and Beuret were becoming increasingly impatient with Rodin's "double life". Claudel and Rodin shared an
atelier
An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or v ...
at a small old castle (the Château de l'Islette in the Loire), but Rodin refused to relinquish his ties to Beuret, his loyal companion during the lean years, and mother of his son. During one absence, Rodin wrote to Beuret, "I think of how much you must have loved me to put up with my caprices...I remain, in all tenderness, your Rodin."
![Auguste Rodin fotografato da Nadar nel 1891](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Auguste_Rodin_fotografato_da_Nadar_nel_1891.jpg)
Claudel and Rodin parted in 1898. Claudel suffered an alleged nervous breakdown several years later and was confined to an institution for 30 years by her family, until her death in 1943, despite numerous attempts by doctors to explain to her mother and
brother
A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...
that she was sane.
Works
![Rodin The bronze age](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Rodin_The_bronze_age.jpg)
In 1864, Rodin submitted his first sculpture for exhibition, ''The Man with the Broken Nose'', to the
Paris Salon
The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...
. The subject was an elderly neighborhood street porter. The unconventional
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
piece was not a traditional
bust
Bust commonly refers to:
* A woman's breasts
* Bust (sculpture), of head and shoulders
* An arrest
Bust may also refer to:
Places
*Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in France
*Lashkargah, Afghanistan, known as Bust historically
Media
* ''Bust'' (magazine ...
, but instead the head was "broken off" at the neck, the nose was flattened and crooked, and the back of the head was absent, having fallen off the clay model in an accident. The work emphasized texture and the emotional state of the subject; it illustrated the "unfinishedness" that would characterize many of Rodin's later sculptures. The Salon rejected the piece.
Early figures: the inspiration of Italy
In Brussels, Rodin created his first full-scale work, ''
The Age of Bronze
''The Age of Bronze'' (french: L'Âge d'airain) is a bronze statue by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840–1917). The figure is of a life-size nude male, 72 in. (182.9 cm) high. Rodin continued to produce casts of the statue for ...
'', having returned from Italy. Modeled after a Belgian soldier, the figure drew inspiration from Michelangelo's ''
Dying Slave
The ''Dying Slave'' is a sculpture by the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo. Created between 1513 and 1516, it was to serve with another figure, the ''Rebellious Slave'', at the tomb of Pope Julius II. It is a marble figure 2.15 metres (7' ...
'', which Rodin had observed at the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
. Attempting to combine Michelangelo's mastery of the human form with his own sense of human nature, Rodin studied his model from all angles, at rest and in motion; he mounted a ladder for additional perspective, and made clay models, which he studied by candlelight. The result was a life-size, well-proportioned nude figure, posed unconventionally with his right hand atop his head, and his left arm held out at his side, forearm parallel to the body.
In 1877, the work debuted in Brussels and then was shown at the Paris Salon. The statue's apparent lack of a theme was troubling to critics – commemorating neither mythology nor a noble historical event – and it is not clear whether Rodin intended a theme. He first titled the work ''The Vanquished'', in which form the left hand held a spear, but he removed the spear because it obstructed the torso from certain angles. After two more intermediary titles, Rodin settled on ''The Age of Bronze'', suggesting the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
, and in Rodin's words, "man arising from nature".
[Hale, 51.] Later, however, Rodin said that he had had in mind "just a simple piece of sculpture without reference to subject".
Its mastery of form, light, and shadow made the work look so naturalistic that Rodin was accused of ''surmoulage'' – having taken a cast from a living model. Rodin vigorously denied the charges, writing to newspapers and having photographs taken of the model to prove how the sculpture differed. He demanded an inquiry and was eventually exonerated by a committee of sculptors. Leaving aside the false charges, the piece polarized critics. It had barely won acceptance for display at the Paris Salon, and criticism likened it to "a statue of a sleepwalker" and called it "an astonishingly accurate copy of a low type".
Others rallied to defend the piece and Rodin's integrity. The government minister Turquet admired the piece, and ''The Age of Bronze'' was purchased by the state for 2,200
franc
The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (Style of the French sovereign, King of the Franks) used on early France, ...
s – what it had cost Rodin to have it cast in bronze.
![St-John-the-Baptist-Preaching](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/St-John-the-Baptist-Preaching.jpg)
A second male nude, ''
St. John the Baptist Preaching'', was completed in 1878. Rodin sought to avoid another charge of ''surmoulage'' by making the statue larger than life: ''St. John'' stands almost . While ''The Age of Bronze'' is statically posed, ''St. John'' gestures and seems to move toward the viewer. The effect of walking is achieved despite the figure having both feet firmly on the ground – a technical achievement that was lost on most contemporary critics. Rodin chose this contradictory position to, in his words, "display simultaneously...views of an object which in fact can be seen only successively".
[Hale, 68.]
Despite the title, ''St. John the Baptist Preaching'' did not have an obviously religious theme. The model, an Italian peasant who presented himself at Rodin's studio, possessed an idiosyncratic sense of movement that Rodin felt compelled to capture. Rodin thought of
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
, and carried that association into the title of the work.
In 1880, Rodin submitted the sculpture to the Paris Salon. Critics were still mostly dismissive of his work, but the piece finished third in the Salon's sculpture category.
Regardless of the immediate receptions of ''St. John'' and ''The Age of Bronze'', Rodin had achieved a new degree of fame. Students sought him at his studio, praising his work and scorning the charges of ''surmoulage''. The artistic community knew his name.
''The Gates of Hell''
![Zürich - Kunsthaus - Rodin's Höllentor IMG 7384 ShiftN](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Z%C3%BCrich_-_Kunsthaus_-_Rodin%27s_H%C3%B6llentor_IMG_7384_ShiftN.jpg)
A commission to create a
portal
Portal often refers to:
* Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnel
Portal may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Gaming
* ''Portal'' (series), two video games ...
for Paris' planned Museum of Decorative Arts was awarded to Rodin in 1880.
Although the museum was never built, Rodin worked throughout his life on ''
The Gates of Hell
''The Gates of Hell'' (french: La Porte de l'Enfer) is a monumental bronze sculptural group work by French artist Auguste Rodin that depicts a scene from the ''Inferno'', the first section of Dante Alighieri's ''Divine Comedy''. It stands at 6 ...
'', a monumental sculptural group depicting scenes from
Dante's
Dante's is a nightclub and live music venue in Portland, Oregon. The venue, located along West Burnside Street and owned by Frank Faillace, hosts a variety of acts ranging from burlesque to rock music.
Dante's is housed in an unreinforced masonr ...
''
Inferno
Inferno may refer to:
* Hell, an afterlife place of suffering
* Conflagration, a large uncontrolled fire
Film
* ''L'Inferno'', a 1911 Italian film
* Inferno (1953 film), ''Inferno'' (1953 film), a film noir by Roy Ward Baker
* Inferno (1973 fi ...
'' in high relief. Often lacking a clear conception of his major works, Rodin compensated with hard work and a striving for perfection.
[Elsen, 35.]
He conceived ''The Gates'' with the ''surmoulage'' controversy still in mind: "...I had made the ''St. John'' to refute
he charges of casting from a model but it only partially succeeded. To prove completely that I could model from life as well as other sculptors, I determined...to make the sculpture on the door of figures smaller than life."
Laws of composition gave way to the ''Gates disordered and untamed depiction of Hell. The figures and groups in this, Rodin's meditation on the condition of man, are physically and morally isolated in their torment.
[Jianou & Goldscheider, 41.]
''The Gates of Hell'' comprised 186 figures in its final form.
Many of Rodin's best-known sculptures started as designs of figures for this composition,
such as ''
The Thinker
''The Thinker'' (french: Le Penseur) is a bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled tradi ...
'', ''
The Three Shades
''The Three Shades'' (''Les Trois Ombres'') is a sculptural group produced in plaster by Auguste Rodin in 1886 for his ''The Gates of Hell''. He made several individual studies for the ''Shades'' before finally deciding to put them together as th ...
'', and ''
The Kiss'', and were only later presented as separate and independent works. Other well-known works derived from ''The Gates'' are ''
Ugolino Ugolino is an Italian masculine given name that is a diminutive form of Ugo. It may also refer to:
Artists and musicians
* Ugolino di Nerio (1280?–1349), Italian painter active in Siena and Florence
* Ugolino di Tedice (died after 1277), Italian ...
'', ''Fallen
Caryatid
A caryatid ( or or ; grc, Καρυᾶτις, pl. ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "ma ...
Carrying her Stone'', ''
Fugit Amor'', ''She Who Was Once the Helmet-Maker's Beautiful Wife'', ''
The Falling Man
''The Falling Man'' is a photograph taken by Associated Press photographer Richard Drew of a man falling from the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks in New York City. The Unidentified Man in the image was trapped on the uppe ...
'', and ''
The Prodigal Son The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a parable of Jesus from the Bible.
The Prodigal Son or Prodigal Son may also refer to:
Film
* ''L'Enfant prodigue'' (1907 film) (The Prodigal Son), by Michel Carré, based on his play
* , a short silent film b ...
''.
![The Thinker, Rodin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/The_Thinker%2C_Rodin.jpg)
''The Thinker'' (originally titled ''The Poet'', after Dante) was to become one of the best-known sculptures in the world. The original was a high bronze piece created between 1879 and 1889, designed for the ''Gates''
' lintel
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...
, from which the figure would gaze down upon Hell. While ''The Thinker'' most obviously characterizes Dante, aspects of the Biblical
Adam
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
, the mythological
Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, know ...
,
and Rodin himself have been ascribed to him.
Other observers de-emphasize the apparent intellectual theme of ''The Thinker'', stressing the figure's rough physicality and the emotional tension emanating from it.
''The Burghers of Calais''
![The](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/The.burg.of.calais.london.arp.750pix.jpg)
The town of Calais had contemplated a historical monument for decades when Rodin learned of the project. He pursued the commission, interested in the medieval motif and patriotic theme. The mayor of Calais was tempted to hire Rodin on the spot upon visiting his studio, and soon the memorial was approved, with Rodin as its architect. It would commemorate the six townspeople of Calais who offered their lives to save their fellow citizens.
During the
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...
, the army of
King Edward III
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring ro ...
besieged Calais, and Edward ordered that the town's population be killed ''en masse''. He agreed to spare them if six of the principal citizens would come to him prepared to die, bareheaded and barefooted and with ropes around their necks. When they came, he ordered that they be executed, but pardoned them when his queen,
Philippa of Hainault
Philippa of Hainault (sometimes spelled Hainaut; Middle French: ''Philippe de Hainaut''; 24 June 1310 (or 1315) – 15 August 1369) was Queen of England as the wife and political adviser of King Edward III. She acted as regent in 1346,Strickla ...
, begged him to spare their lives. ''
The Burghers of Calais
''The Burghers of Calais'' (french: Les Bourgeois de Calais) is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin in twelve original castings and numerous copies. It commemorates an event during the Hundred Years' War, when Calais, a French port on the English Cha ...
'' depicts the men as they are leaving for the king's camp, carrying keys to the town's gates and citadel.
Rodin began the project in 1884, inspired by the chronicles of the siege by
Jean Froissart
Jean Froissart ( Old and Middle French: '' Jehan'', – ) (also John Froissart) was a French-speaking medieval author and court historian from the Low Countries who wrote several works, including ''Chronicles'' and ''Meliador'', a long Arthuria ...
.
Though the town envisioned an
allegorical
As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...
, heroic piece centered on Eustache de Saint-Pierre, the eldest of the six men, Rodin conceived the sculpture as a study in the varied and complex emotions under which all six men were laboring. One year into the commission, the Calais committee was not impressed with Rodin's progress. Rodin indicated his willingness to end the project rather than change his design to meet the committee's conservative expectations, but Calais said to continue.
In 1889, ''The Burghers of Calais'' was first displayed to general acclaim. It is a bronze sculpture weighing , and its figures are tall.
The six men portrayed do not display a united, heroic front;
rather, each is isolated from his brothers, individually deliberating and struggling with his expected fate. Rodin soon proposed that the monument's high pedestal be eliminated, wanting to move the sculpture to ground level so that viewers could "penetrate to the heart of the subject". At ground level, the figures' positions lead the viewer around the work, and subtly suggest their common movement forward.
The committee was incensed by the untraditional proposal, but Rodin would not yield. In 1895, Calais succeeded in having ''Burghers'' displayed in their preferred form: the work was placed in front of a public garden on a high platform, surrounded by a cast-iron railing. Rodin had wanted it located near the town hall, where it would engage the public. Only after damage during the First World War, subsequent storage, and Rodin's death was the sculpture displayed as he had intended. It is one of Rodin's best-known and most acclaimed works.
Commissions and controversy
![Auguste Rodin - Monument to Victor Hugo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Auguste_Rodin_-_Monument_to_Victor_Hugo.jpg)
Commissioned to create a monument to French writer
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
in 1889, Rodin dealt extensively with the subject of ''artist and muse''. Like many of Rodin's public commissions, ''Monument to Victor Hugo'' was met with resistance because it did not fit conventional expectations. Commenting on Rodin's monument to Victor Hugo, ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' in 1909 expressed that "there is some show of reason in the complaint that
odin'sconceptions are sometimes unsuited to his medium, and that in such cases they overstrain his vast technical powers". The 1897 plaster model was not cast in bronze until 1964.
The ''Société des Gens des Lettres'', a Parisian organization of writers, planned a monument to French novelist
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...
immediately after his death in 1850. The society commissioned Rodin to create the memorial in 1891, and Rodin spent years developing the concept for his sculpture. Challenged in finding an appropriate representation of Balzac given the author's rotund physique, Rodin produced many studies: portraits, full-length figures in the nude, wearing a
frock coat
A frock coat is a formal men's coat characterised by a knee-length skirt cut all around the base just above the knee, popular during the Victorian and Edwardian periods (1830s–1910s). It is a fitted, long-sleeved coat with a centre vent at th ...
, or in a
robe
A robe is a loose-fitting outer garment. Unlike garments described as capes or cloaks, robes usually have sleeves. The English word ''robe'' derives from Middle English ''robe'' ("garment"), borrowed from Old French ''robe'' ("booty, spoils" ...
– a replica of which Rodin had requested. The realized sculpture displays Balzac cloaked in the drapery, looking forcefully into the distance with deeply gouged features. Rodin's intent had been to show Balzac at the moment of conceiving a work
– to express courage, labor, and struggle.
When ''
Monument to Balzac
''Monument to Balzac'' is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin in memory of the French novelist Honoré de Balzac. According to Rodin, the sculpture aims to portray the writer's persona rather than a physical likeness. The work was commissioned in 1891 ...
'' was exhibited in 1898, the negative reaction was not surprising.
The ''Société'' rejected the work, and the press ran
parodies
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...
. Criticizing the work, Morey (1918) reflected, "there may come a time, and doubtless will come a time, when it will not seem ''outre'' to represent a great novelist as a huge comic mask crowning a bathrobe, but even at the present day this statue impresses one as slang."
A modern critic, indeed, claims that ''Balzac'' is one of Rodin's masterpieces.
The monument had its supporters in Rodin's day; a manifesto defending him was signed by
Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
,
Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
, and future
Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was a ...
, among many others. In the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
series
Civilisation
A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of State (polity), a state, social stratification, urban area, urbanization, and Symbol, symbolic systems of communication beyond natural language, natur ...
, art historian
Kenneth Clark
Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television ...
praised the monument as "the greatest piece of sculpture of the 19th Century, perhaps, indeed, the greatest since
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
." Rather than try to convince skeptics of the merit of the monument, Rodin repaid the ''Société'' his commission and moved the figure to his garden. After this experience, Rodin did not complete another public commission. Only in 1939 was ''
Monument to Balzac
''Monument to Balzac'' is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin in memory of the French novelist Honoré de Balzac. According to Rodin, the sculpture aims to portray the writer's persona rather than a physical likeness. The work was commissioned in 1891 ...
'' cast in bronze and placed on the
Boulevard du Montparnasse
The Boulevard du Montparnasse is a two-way boulevard in Montparnasse, in the 6th, 14th and 15th arrondissements in Paris.
Situation
The boulevard joins the place Léon Paul Fargue and place Camille Jullian. The Tour Montparnasse and plac ...
at the intersection with
Boulevard Raspail
Boulevard Raspail is a boulevard of Paris, in France.
Its orientation is north–south, and joins boulevard Saint-Germain with place Denfert-Rochereau whilst traversing 7th, 6th and 14th arrondissements. The boulevard intersects major roadw ...
.
Other works
![Rodin Reclining woman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Rodin_Reclining_woman.jpg)
The popularity of Rodin's most famous sculptures tends to obscure his total creative output. A prolific artist, he created thousands of busts, figures, and sculptural fragments over more than five decades. He painted in
oils
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
(especially in his thirties) and in
watercolors
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...
. The Musée Rodin holds 7,000 of his drawings and prints, in
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...
and
charcoal
Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...
, and thirteen vigorous
drypoint
Drypoint is a printmaking technique of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family, in which an image is incised into a plate (or "matrix") with a hard-pointed "needle" of sharp metal or diamond point. In principle, the method is practically ident ...
s. He also produced a single
lithograph
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
.
Portraiture was an important component of Rodin's oeuvre, helping him to win acceptance and financial independence. His first sculpture was a bust of his father in 1860, and he produced at least 56 portraits between 1877 and his death in 1917. Early subjects included fellow sculptor
Jules Dalou
Aimé-Jules Dalou (31 December 183815 April 1902) was a 19th-century French sculptor, admired for his perceptiveness, execution, and unpretentious realism.
Early life
Born in Paris to a working-class family of Huguenot background, he was raised ...
(1883) and companion Camille Claudel (1884).
Later, with his reputation established, Rodin made busts of prominent contemporaries such as English politician
George Wyndham
George Wyndham, PC (29 August 1863 – 8 June 1913) was a British Conservative politician, statesman, man of letters, and one of The Souls.
Background and education
Wyndham was the elder son of the Honourable Percy Wyndham, third son of Ge ...
(1905), Irish playwright
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
(1906), socialist (and former mistress of the Prince of Wales who became King Edward VII)
Countess of Warwick (1908), Austrian composer
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
(1909), former Argentine president
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (; born Domingo Faustino Fidel Valentín Sarmiento y Albarracín; 15 February 1811 – 11 September 1888) was an Argentine activist, intellectual, writer, statesman and the second President of Argentina. His writing s ...
and French statesman
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was a ...
(1911).
His undated drawing ''Study of a Woman Nude, Standing, Arms Raised, Hands Crossed Above Head'' is one of the works seized in 2012 from the collection of
Cornelius Gurlitt.
Aesthetic
![Rodin p1070095](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Rodin_p1070095.jpg)
Rodin was a naturalist, less concerned with monumental expression than with character and emotion. Departing with centuries of tradition, he turned away from the idealism of the Greeks, and the decorative beauty of the
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
and
neo-Baroque movements. His sculpture emphasized the individual and the concreteness of flesh, and suggested emotion through detailed, textured surfaces, and the interplay of light and shadow. To a greater degree than his contemporaries, Rodin believed that an individual's character was revealed by his physical features.
[Hale, 76.]
Rodin's talent for surface modeling allowed him to let every part of the body speak for the whole. The male's passion in ''The Thinker'' is suggested by the grip of his toes on the rock, the rigidness of his back, and the differentiation of his hands.
Speaking of ''The Thinker'', Rodin illuminated his aesthetic: "What makes my Thinker think is that he thinks not only with his brain, with his knitted brow, his distended nostrils and compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back, and legs, with his clenched fist and gripping toes."
Sculptural fragments to Rodin were autonomous works, and he considered them the essence of his artistic statement. His fragments – perhaps lacking arms, legs, or a head – took sculpture further from its traditional role of portraying likenesses, and into a realm where forms existed for their own sake. Notable examples are ''
The Walking Man
''The Walking Man'' (french: L'homme qui marche) is a bronze sculpture by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. This sculpture was made in 1907.
The best example of Rodin’s ‘sketchy’ impressionist sculpture also happens to be his most wel ...
'', ''
Meditation without Arms'', and ''
Iris, Messenger of the Gods
''Iris, Messenger of the Gods'' (French: "Iris, messagère des Dieux") (sometimes known as ''Flying Figure'', or ''Eternal Tunnel'') is a bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin. A plaster model, created between 1891 and 1894, was cast in bronze by ...
''.
Rodin saw suffering and conflict as hallmarks of modern art. "Nothing, really, is more moving than the maddened beast, dying from unfulfilled desire and asking in vain for grace to quell its passion."
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...
echoed those themes, and was among Rodin's favorite poets. Rodin enjoyed music, especially the opera composer
Gluck
Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period (music), classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the ...
, and wrote a book about
French cathedrals
This is a list of cathedrals in France and in the French overseas departments, territories and collectivities, including both actual and former diocesan cathedrals (seats of bishops). Almost all cathedrals in France are Roman Catholic, but any non ...
. He owned a work by the as-yet-unrecognized
Van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inclu ...
, and admired the forgotten
El Greco
Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El G ...
.
Method
Instead of copying traditional academic postures, Rodin preferred his models to move naturally around his studio (despite their nakedness).
The sculptor often made quick sketches in clay that were later fine-tuned, cast in plaster, and cast in bronze or carved from marble. Rodin's focus was on the handling of clay.
[Quoted in Jianou & Goldscheider, 62.]
George Bernard Shaw sat for a portrait and gave an idea of Rodin's technique: "While he worked, he achieved a number of miracles. At the end of the first fifteen minutes, after having given a simple idea of the human form to the block of clay, he produced by the action of his thumb a bust so living that I would have taken it away with me to relieve the sculptor of any further work."
He described the evolution of his bust over a month, passing through "all the stages of art's evolution": first, a "
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
masterpiece", then "
Bernini
Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, , ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 159828 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor of his ...
intermingled", then an elegant
Houdon
Jean-Antoine Houdon (; 20 March 1741 – 15 July 1828) was a French neoclassical sculptor.
Houdon is famous for his portrait busts and statues of philosophers, inventors and political figures of the Enlightenment. Houdon's subjects included De ...
. "The hand of Rodin worked not as the hand of a sculptor works, but as the work of ''
Elan Vital''. The ''Hand of God'' is his own hand."
After he completed his work in clay, he employed highly skilled assistants to re-sculpt his compositions at larger sizes (including any of his large-scale monuments such as ''The Thinker''), to cast the clay compositions into plaster or bronze, and to carve his marbles. Rodin's major innovation was to capitalize on such multi-staged processes of 19th century sculpture and their reliance on plaster casting.
Since clay deteriorates rapidly if not kept wet or fired into a terra-cotta, sculptors used plaster casts as a means of securing the composition they would make from the fugitive material that is clay. This was common practice amongst Rodin's contemporaries, and sculptors would exhibit plaster casts with the hopes that they would be commissioned to have the works made in a more permanent material. Rodin, however, would have multiple plasters made and treat them as the raw material of sculpture, recombining their parts and figures into new compositions, and new names.
As Rodin's practice developed into the 1890s, he became more and more radical in his pursuit of fragmentation, the combination of figures at different scales, and the making of new compositions from his earlier work. A prime example of this is the bold ''
The Walking Man
''The Walking Man'' (french: L'homme qui marche) is a bronze sculpture by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. This sculpture was made in 1907.
The best example of Rodin’s ‘sketchy’ impressionist sculpture also happens to be his most wel ...
'' (1899–1900), which was exhibited at his major one-person show in 1900. This is composed of two sculptures from the 1870s that Rodin found in his studio – a broken and damaged torso that had fallen into neglect and the lower extremities of a statuette version of his 1878 ''St. John the Baptist Preaching'' he was having re-sculpted at a reduced scale.
Without finessing the join between upper and lower, between torso and legs, Rodin created a work that many sculptors at the time and subsequently have seen as one of his strongest and most singular works. This is despite the fact that the object conveys two different styles, exhibits two different attitudes toward finish, and lacks any attempt to hide the arbitrary fusion of these two components. It was the freedom and creativity with which Rodin used these practices – along with his activation surfaces of sculptures through traces of his own touch and with his more open attitude toward bodily pose, sensual subject matter, and non-naturalistic surface – that marked Rodin's re-making of traditional 19th century sculptural techniques into the prototype for modern sculpture.
File:Rodin The Shade.jpg, ''The Shade
The Shade (Richard Swift) is a comic book Character (arts), character developed in the 1940s for National Comics Publications, National Comics, first appearing in the pages of ''Flash Comics'' in a story titled "The Man Who Commanded the Night", ...
'' (1880–81), High Museum of Art
The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...
, Atlanta
File:Age of bronze plaster.jpg, A plaster
Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for Molding (decorative), moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of ...
of ''The Age of Bronze
''The Age of Bronze'' (french: L'Âge d'airain) is a bronze statue by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840–1917). The figure is of a life-size nude male, 72 in. (182.9 cm) high. Rodin continued to produce casts of the statue for ...
''
Later years (1900–1917)
![Legros -buste de Rodin (dessin)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Legros_-buste_de_Rodin_%28dessin%29.jpg)
By 1900, Rodin's artistic reputation was entrenched. Gaining exposure from a pavilion of his artwork set up near the 1900
World's Fair
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
(''Exposition Universelle'') in Paris, he received requests to make busts of prominent people internationally,
while his assistants at the atelier produced duplicates of his works. His income from portrait commissions alone totaled probably 200,000 francs a year. As Rodin's fame grew, he attracted many followers, including the German poet
Rainer Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogni ...
, and authors
Octave Mirbeau
Octave Mirbeau (16 February 1848 – 16 February 1917) was a French novelist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, journalist and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, whilst still appealing to the ...
,
Joris-Karl Huysmans
Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (, ; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (, variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel ''À rebou ...
, and
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
.
Rilke stayed with Rodin in 1905 and 1906, and did administrative work for him; he would later write a laudatory
monograph
A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject.
In library cataloging, ''monograph ...
on the sculptor. Rodin and Beuret's modest country estate in
Meudon
Meudon () is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris. The city is known for many historic monuments and some extraordinary trees. One of t ...
, purchased in 1897, was a host to such guests as
King Edward, dancer
Isadora Duncan
Angela Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877 or May 27, 1878 – September 14, 1927) was an American dancer and choreographer, who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance, who performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and the US. Born and raised in ...
, and
harpsichord
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
ist
Wanda Landowska
Wanda Aleksandra Landowska (5 July 1879 – 16 August 1959) was a Polish harpsichordist and pianist whose performances, teaching, writings and especially her many recordings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in t ...
. A British journalist who visited the property noted in 1902 that in its complete isolation, there was "a striking analogy between its situation and the personality of the man who lives in it". Rodin moved to the city in 1908, renting the main floor of the
Hôtel Biron
The Hôtel Biron, known initially as the Hôtel Peyrenc-de-Moras and later as the Hôtel du Maine, is an ''hôtel particulier'' located at 77 rue de Varenne, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, that was built from 1727 to 1732 to the designs of t ...
, an 18th-century townhouse. He left Beuret in Meudon, and began an affair with the American-born Duchesse de Choiseul.
From 1910, he mentored the Russian sculptor,
Moissey Kogan
Moissey Kogan (12 March 1879 – 3 March 1943) was a Bessarabian Jewish medalist, sculptor and graphic artist who spent much of his time in Paris and travelled throughout Europe. He specialised in creating sculptures and graphic art based on the ...
.
United States
While Rodin was beginning to be accepted in France by the time of ''The Burghers of Calais'', he had not yet conquered the American market. Because of his technique and the frankness of some of his work, he did not have an easy time selling his work to American industrialists. However, he came to know
Sarah Tyson Hallowell
Sarah Tyson Hallowell or Sara Tyson Hallowell (December 7, 1846 – July 19, 1924) was an American art curator in the years between the Civil War and World War I. She curated a number of major exhibitions in Chicago, arranged the loan exh ...
(1846–1924), a curator from Chicago who visited Paris to arrange exhibitions at the large Interstate Expositions of the 1870s and 1880s. Hallowell was not only a curator but an adviser and a facilitator who was trusted by a number of prominent American collectors to suggest works for their collections, the most prominent of these being the Chicago hotelier
Potter Palmer
Potter Palmer (May 20, 1826 – May 4, 1902) was an American businessman who was responsible for much of the development of State Street in Chicago. Born in Albany County, New York,[Bertha Palmer
Bertha Matilde Palmer (; May 22, 1849 – May 5, 1918) was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist.
Early life
Born as Bertha Matilde Honoré in Louisville, Kentucky, her father was businessman Henry Hamilton Honoré. Known wit ...]
(1849–1918).
The next opportunity for Rodin in America was the 1893
Chicago World's Fair. Hallowell wanted to help promote Rodin's work and he suggested a solo exhibition, which she wrote him was ''beaucoup moins beau que l'original'' but impossible, outside the rules. Instead, she suggested he send a number of works for her loan exhibition of French art from American collections and she told him she would list them as being part of an American collection. Rodin sent Hallowell three works, ''Cupid and Psyche'', ''Sphinx'' and ''
Andromeda''. All nudes, these works provoked great controversy and were ultimately hidden behind a drape with special permission given for viewers to see them.
[The Documented Image, p. 97]
''Bust of Dalou'' and ''Burgher of Calais'' were on display in the official French pavilion at the fair and so between the works that were on display and those that were not, he was noticed. However, the works he gave Hallowell to sell found no takers, but she soon brought the controversial Quaker-born financier
Charles Yerkes
Charles Tyson Yerkes Jr. ( ; June 25, 1837 – December 29, 1905) was an American financier. He played a part in developing mass-transit systems in Chicago and London.
Philadelphia
Yerkes was born into a Quaker family in the Northern Liberties, ...
(1837–1905) into the fold and he purchased two large marbles for his Chicago manse;
Yerkes was likely the first American to own a Rodin sculpture.
Other collectors soon followed including the tastemaking Potter Palmers of Chicago and
Isabella Stewart Gardner
Isabella Stewart Gardner (April 14, 1840 – July 17, 1924) was a leading American art collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. She founded the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
Gardner possessed an energetic intellectual cur ...
(1840–1924) of Boston, all arranged by Sarah Hallowell. In appreciation for her efforts at unlocking the American market, Rodin eventually presented Hallowell with a bronze, a marble and a terra cotta. When Hallowell moved to Paris in 1893, she and Rodin continued their warm friendship and correspondence, which lasted to the end of the sculptor's life. After Hallowell's death, her niece, the painter
Harriet Hallowell
Harriet Hallowell (1873–1943) was an expatriate American artist who lived in France for fifty years. She was born in Boston to a Quaker family. During World War I she remained in France and volunteered at a hospital. The hospital was near the ho ...
, inherited the Rodins and after her death, the American heirs could not manage to match their value in order to export them, so they became the property of the French state.
Great Britain
After the start of the 20th century, Rodin was a regular visitor to Great Britain, where he developed a loyal following by the beginning of the First World War. He first visited England in 1881, where his friend, the artist
Alphonse Legros
Alphonse Legros (8 May 1837 – 8 December 1911) was a French, later British, painter, etcher, sculptor, and medallist. He moved to London in 1863 and later took British citizenship. He was important as a teacher in the British etching rev ...
, had introduced him to the poet
William Ernest Henley
William Ernest Henley (23 August 184911 July 1903) was an English poet, writer, critic and editor. Though he wrote several books of poetry, Henley is remembered most often for his 1875 poem "Invictus". A fixture in London literary circles, the o ...
. With his personal connections and enthusiasm for Rodin's art, Henley was most responsible for Rodin's reception in Britain. (Rodin later returned the favor by sculpting a
bust of Henley that was used as the frontispiece to Henley's collected works and, after his death, on his monument in London.)
Through Henley, Rodin met
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...
and
Robert Browning
Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings ...
, in whom he found further support. Encouraged by the enthusiasm of British artists, students, and high society for his art, Rodin donated a significant selection of his works to the nation in 1914.
After the revitalization of the
Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts
Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (SNBA; ; en, National Society of Fine Arts) was the term under which two groups of French artists united, the first for some exhibitions in the early 1860s, the second since 1890 for annual exhibitions.
1862
Es ...
in 1890, Rodin served as the body's vice-president. In 1903, Rodin was elected president of the
International Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers. He replaced its former president,
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...
, upon Whistler's death. His election to the prestigious position was largely due to the efforts of
Albert Ludovici
Albert may refer to:
Companies
* Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic
* Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands
* Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia
* Albert Productions, a record label
* Albert ...
, father of English philosopher
Anthony Ludovici
Anthony Mario Ludovici MBE (8 January 1882 – 3 April 1971) was a British philosopher, sociologist, social critic and polyglot. He is known as a proponent of aristocracy and anti-egalitarianism, and in the early 20th century was a leading ...
, who was private secretary to Rodin for several months in 1906, but the two men parted company after Christmas, "to their mutual relief."
During his later creative years, Rodin's work turned increasingly toward the female form, and themes of more overt masculinity and femininity.
He concentrated on small dance studies, and produced numerous
erotic drawings, sketched in a loose way, without taking his pencil from the paper or his eyes from the model. Rodin met American dancer
Isadora Duncan
Angela Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877 or May 27, 1878 – September 14, 1927) was an American dancer and choreographer, who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance, who performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and the US. Born and raised in ...
in 1900, attempted to seduce her, and the next year sketched studies of her and her students. In July 1906, Rodin was also enchanted by dancers from the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, and produced some of his most famous drawings from the experience.
Fifty-three years into their relationship, Rodin married Rose Beuret. They married on 29 January 1917, and Beuret died two weeks later, on 16 February.
Rodin was ill that year; in January, he suffered weakness from
influenza
Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...
, and on 16 November his physician announced that "congestion of the lungs has caused great weakness. The patient's condition is grave."
Rodin died the next day, age 77, at his villa in
Meudon
Meudon () is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris. The city is known for many historic monuments and some extraordinary trees. One of t ...
,
Île-de-France
, timezone1 = CET
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, blank_name_sec1 = Gross regional product
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, bla ...
, on the outskirts of Paris.
A cast of ''The Thinker'' was placed next to his tomb in Meudon; it was Rodin's wish that the figure served as his
headstone
A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, da ...
and
epitaph
An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...
. In 1923, Marcell Tirel, Rodin's secretary, published a book alleging that Rodin's death was largely due to cold, and the fact that he had no heat at Meudon. Rodin requested permission to stay in the
Hotel Biron, a museum of his works, but the director of the museum refused to let him stay there.
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R38535, Auguste Rodin.jpg, Rodin in 1914
File:Musée Rodin de Meudon 04.jpg, Rodin's gravesite at the Musée Rodin de Meudon
Legacy
Rodin willed to the French state his studio and the right to make casts from his plasters. Because he encouraged the edition of his sculpted work, Rodin's sculptures are represented in many public and private collections. The
Musée Rodin
The Musée Rodin ( en, Rodin Museum) in Paris, France, is a museum that was opened in 1919, primarily dedicated to the works of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. It has two sites: the Hôtel Biron and surrounding grounds in central Paris, as ...
was founded in 1916 and opened in 1919 at the
Hôtel Biron
The Hôtel Biron, known initially as the Hôtel Peyrenc-de-Moras and later as the Hôtel du Maine, is an ''hôtel particulier'' located at 77 rue de Varenne, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, that was built from 1727 to 1732 to the designs of t ...
, where Rodin had lived, and it holds the largest Rodin collection, with more than 6,000 sculptures and 7,000 works on paper. The French order ''
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
'' made him a Commander, and he received an
honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
from the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
.
During his lifetime, Rodin was compared to
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
,
and was widely recognized as the greatest artist of the era.
In the three decades following his death, his popularity waned with changing aesthetic values.
Since the 1950s, Rodin's reputation has re-ascended;
he is recognized as the most important sculptor of the modern era, and has been the subject of much scholarly work.
The sense of incompletion offered by some of his sculpture, such as ''The Walking Man'', influenced the increasingly abstract sculptural forms of the 20th century.
Rodin restored an ancient role of sculpture – to capture the physical and intellectual force of the human subject
– and he freed sculpture from the repetition of traditional patterns, providing the foundation for greater experimentation in the 20th century. His popularity is ascribed to his emotion-laden representations of ordinary men and women – to his ability to find the beauty and pathos in the human animal. His most popular works, such as ''The Kiss'' and ''The Thinker'', are widely used outside the fine arts as symbols of human emotion and character.
To honor Rodin's artistic legacy, the
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
search engine homepage displayed a
Google Doodle
A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...
featuring ''The Thinker'' to celebrate his 172nd birthday on 12 November 2012.
Rodin had enormous artistic influence. A whole generation of sculptors studied in his workshop. These include
Gutzon Borglum
John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941) was an American sculptor best known for his work on Mount Rushmore. He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., including Stone Mountain in Georg ...
,
Antoine Bourdelle
Antoine Bourdelle (30 October 1861 – 1 October 1929), born Émile Antoine Bordelles, was an influential and prolific French sculptor and teacher. He was a student of Auguste Rodin, a teacher of Giacometti and Henri Matisse, and an important fi ...
,
Constantin Brâncuși
Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian Sculpture, sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century and a pioneer of ...
,
Camille Claudel
Camille Rosalie Claudel (; 8 December 1864 19 October 1943) was a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble. She died in relative obscurity, but later gained recognition for the originality and quality of her work. The ...
,
Charles Despiau
Charles Despiau (November 4, 1874 – October 28, 1946) was a French sculptor.
Early life
Charles-Albert Despiau was born at Mont-de-Marsan, Landes and attended first the École des Arts Décoratifs and later the École nationale supérieure de ...
,
Malvina Hoffman
Malvina Cornell Hoffman (June 15, 1885July 10, 1966) was an American sculptor and author, well known for her life-size bronze sculptures of people. She also worked in plaster and marble. Hoffman created portrait busts of working-class people and ...
,
Carl Milles
Carl Milles (; 23 June 1875 – 19 September 1955) was a Swedish sculptor. He was married to artist Olga Milles (née Granner) and brother to Ruth Milles and half-brother to the architect Evert Milles. Carl Milles sculpted the Gustaf Vasa statu ...
,
François Pompon
François Pompon (9 May 1855 – 6 May 1933) was a French sculptor and animalier. Pompon made his Salon debut in 1879, exhibiting a statue of Victor Hugo's Cosette (from ''Les Misérables''). He was a pioneer of modern stylized animalier scu ...
,
Rodo
Auguste de Niederhäusern, better known as Rodo (2 April 1863 – 21 May 1913) was a Swiss sculptor and medalist active in Switzerland and France.
Rodo was born in Vevey, and in 1866 moved with his family to Geneva. He attended the École des ...
,
Gustav Vigeland
Gustav Vigeland (11 April 1869 – 12 March 1943), born as Adolf Gustav Thorsen, was a Norwegian sculptor. Gustav Vigeland occupies a special position among Norwegian sculptors, both in the power of his creative imagination and in his product ...
,
Clara Westhoff
Clara Westhoff (21 September 1878 in Bremen – 9 March 1954 in Fischerhude), also known as ''Clara Rilke'' or ''Clara Rilke-Westhoff'' was a pioneer German sculptor and artist. She was the wife of poet Rainer Maria Rilke.
Early life
At 17, W ...
and
Margaret Winser
Margaret Winser (1868 – 29 December 1944) was an English sculptor, medallist, artist, and art teacher.
Life and works
Margaret Winser was born at Rolvenden near Tenterdenin Kent during 1868, the daughter of Albert Winser, a farmer, and Mary ...
, even though Brancusi later rejected his legacy. Rodin also promoted the work of other sculptors, including
Aristide Maillol
Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol (; December 8, 1861 – September 27, 1944) was a French sculptor, painter, and printmaker.Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette . "Maillol, Aristide". ''Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online''. Oxford University P ...
and
Ivan Meštrović
Ivan Meštrović (; 15 August 1883 – 16 January 1962) was a Croatian sculptor, architect, and writer. He was the most prominent modern Croatian sculptor and a leading artistic personality in contemporary Zagreb. He studied at Pavle Bilinić's ...
whom Rodin once called "the greatest phenomenon amongst sculptors." Other sculptors whose work has been described as owing to Rodin include
Joseph Csaky
Joseph Csaky (also written Josef Csàky, Csáky József, József Csáky and Joseph Alexandre Czaky) (18 March 1888 – 1 May 1971) was a Hungarian avant-garde artist, sculptor, and graphic artist, best known for his early participation in the ...
,
[Edith Balas, 1998, ''Joseph Csaky: A Pioneer of Modern Sculpture''](_blank)
Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society Alexander Archipenko
Alexander Porfyrovych Archipenko (also referred to as Olexandr, Oleksandr, or Aleksandr; uk, Олександр Порфирович Архипенко, Romanized: Olexandr Porfyrovych Arkhypenko; February 25, 1964) was a Ukrainian and American ...
,
Joseph Bernard
Joseph Bernard (1866, Vienne, Isère – 1931) was a modern classical French sculptor, featured on the frontispiece of Elie Faure's 1927 survey of modern art, "Spirit of Forms". Bernard was trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in the atelier o ...
,
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (né Gaudier; 4 October 1891 – 5 June 1915) was a French artist and sculptor who developed a rough-hewn, primitive style of direct carving.
Biography
Henri Gaudier was born in Saint-Jean-de-Braye near Orléans. In 1910, ...
,
Georg Kolbe
Georg Kolbe (15 April 1877 – 20 November 1947) was a German sculptor. He was the leading German figure sculptor of his generation, in a vigorous, modern, simplified classical style similar to Aristide Maillol of France.
Early life and educa ...
,
Wilhelm Lehmbruck
Wilhelm Lehmbruck (4 January 188125 March 1919) was a German sculptor.
Biography
Born in Meiderich (part of Duisburg from 1905), he was the fourth of eight children born to the miner Wilhelm Lehmbruck and his wife Margaretha. He was able to stu ...
,
Jacques Lipchitz
Jacques Lipchitz (26 May 1973) was a Cubist sculptor. Lipchitz retained highly figurative and legible components in his work leading up to 1915–16, after which naturalist and descriptive elements were muted, dominated by a synthetic style of Cr ...
,
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
,
Adolfo Wildt
Adolfo Wildt (March 1, 1868 – March 12, 1931) was an Italian sculptor. He is mostly known for his marble sculptures, which blend simplicity and sophistication, and paved the way for numerous modernist sculptors.http://translate.googleusercont ...
, and
Ossip Zadkine
Ossip Zadkine (russian: Осип Цадкин; 28 January 1888 – 25 November 1967) was a Belarusian-born French artist. He is best known as a sculptor, but also produced paintings and lithographs.
Early years and education
Zadkine was born on ...
.
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...
acknowledged Rodin's seminal influence on his work.
Several films have been made featuring Rodin as a prominent character or presence. These include ''
Camille Claudel
Camille Rosalie Claudel (; 8 December 1864 19 October 1943) was a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble. She died in relative obscurity, but later gained recognition for the originality and quality of her work. The ...
'', a 1988 film in which
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu, CQ (, , ; born 27 December 1948) is a French actor, filmmaker, businessman and vineyard owner since 1989 who is one of the most prolific thespians in film history having completed over 250 films since 1967 alm ...
portrays Rodin, ''
Camille Claudel 1915
''Camille Claudel 1915'' is a 2013 French biographical film written and directed by Bruno Dumont. The film premiered in competition at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.
Plot
At the end of her career the sculptor Camille Claudel seem ...
'' from 2013, and ''
Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...
'', a 2017 film starring
Vincent Lindon
Vincent Lindon (born 15 July 1959) is a French actor and filmmaker. For his role in the film '' The Measure of a Man'' (2015), Lindon won Best Actor at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, Best Actor at the 41st César Awards and the IFFI Best Act ...
as Rodin.
Furthermore, the
Rodin Studios
The Rodin Studios, also known as 200 West 57th Street, is an office building at Seventh Avenue and 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It was designed by Cass Gilbert in the French Gothic style and built from 1916 to 1917. Name ...
artists' cooperative housing in New York City, completed in 1917 to designs by
Cass Gilbert
Cass Gilbert (November 24, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was an American architect. An early proponent of skyscrapers, his works include the Woolworth Building, the United States Supreme Court building, the state capitols of Minnesota, Arkansas and We ...
, was named after Rodin.
File:Kiss Rodin.jpg, '' The Kiss'', 1889
File:Auguste Rodin signature.jpg, alt=Artist's signature is raised above the surface of a sculpture., Rodin's signature on ''The Thinker
''The Thinker'' (french: Le Penseur) is a bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled tradi ...
''
File:Musee Rodin.jpg, The grounds of Musée Rodin
The Musée Rodin ( en, Rodin Museum) in Paris, France, is a museum that was opened in 1919, primarily dedicated to the works of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. It has two sites: the Hôtel Biron and surrounding grounds in central Paris, as ...
File:Philly042107-009-RodinMuseum.jpg, Rodin Museum
The Rodin Museum is an art museum located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that contains one of the largest collections of sculptor Auguste Rodin's works outside Paris. Opened in 1929, the museum is administered by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. T ...
, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Forgeries
The relative ease of making reproductions has also encouraged many forgeries: a survey of expert opinion placed Rodin in the top ten most-faked artists. Rodin fought against forgeries of his works as early as 1901, and since his death, many cases of organized, large-scale forgeries have been revealed. A massive forgery was discovered by French authorities in the early 1990s and led to the conviction of art dealer
Guy Hain
Guy Hain is a French art forger who produced number of fake bronze sculptures.
Guy Hain began as a seller of veterinary products. In his job he met a number of veterinarians who had antique bronze sculptures of animals and developed an interest ...
.
To deal with the complexity of bronze reproduction, France has promulgated several laws since 1956 which limit reproduction to twelve casts – the maximum number that can be made from an artist's plasters and still be considered his work. As a result of this limit, ''
The Burghers of Calais
''The Burghers of Calais'' (french: Les Bourgeois de Calais) is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin in twelve original castings and numerous copies. It commemorates an event during the Hundred Years' War, when Calais, a French port on the English Cha ...
'', for example, is found in fourteen cities.
In the market for sculpture, plagued by fakes, the value of a piece increases significantly when its provenance can be established. A Rodin work with a verified history sold for US$4.8 million in 1999, and Rodin's bronze ''Ève, grand modele – version sans rocher'' sold for $18.9 million at a 2008
Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
auction in New York. Art critics concerned about authenticity have argued that taking a cast does not equal reproducing a Rodin sculpture – especially given the importance of surface treatment in Rodin's work.
A number of drawings previously attributed to Rodin are now known to have been forged by
Ernest Durig.
Citations
General sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* (Online Essay)
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
* Corbett, Rachel (2016). ''You Must Change Your Life: the Story of Rainer Maria Rilke and Auguste Rodin'', New York: W. W. Norton and Company. .
*
*
* Sanyal, Narayan (1984). ''Rodin'', Dey's Publishing Company, Kolkata. .
* Vincent, Clare
"Auguste Rodin (1840–1917)" In ''Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History''. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. (October 2004)
*
Tobias G. Natter
Tobias G. Natter (born 26 May 1961 in Dornbirn, Vorarlberg) is an Austrian art historian and internationally renowned art expert with a particular expertise in "Vienna 1900".
Career
Natter studied art history and history at the universities ...
, Max Hollein (Eds.): ''Klimt & Rodin: An Artistic Encounter.'' DelMonico Books – Prestel Publishing, Munich e. a. 2017, ISBN 978-3-7913-5708-9.
External links
Musée Rodin, ParisFriends of Rodin association organizing for its members events around Auguste Rodin
Rodin Museum, PhiladelphiaMetropolitan Museum of Art
Rodin Exhibitionat the
Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...
Nov 1987 – Jan 1988
Rodinat the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
Correspondence with Walter Butterworthheld at the University of Salford
Public Art Fund: Rodin at Rockefeller Center*
*
* (by
Ranier Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogni ...
, trans. by
Jessie Lemont &
Hans Trausil)
*
*
Portrait of Auguste Rodin by Alphonse Legrosat
University of Michigan Museum of Art
The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodin, Auguste
1840 births
1917 deaths
19th-century French sculptors
20th-century French sculptors
Artists from Paris
French male sculptors
French printmakers
Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur
Modern sculptors
People of the French Third Republic
People of the July Monarchy