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Auguste Rodin

Born – Paris, France 1840

Died – Meudon, France 1917

Rodin studied under the Classicist master Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran from 1854-1857. He then worked as an ornamental mason having failed to gain entry to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Drawing from sculpture in the basements of the Louvre confirmed his allegiance to the art which led to his becoming the most celebrated sculptor of the French Romantic School. He underwent a religious crisis in 1862, which caused him to work solely within a secular context. He encountered the work of Michelangelo on a visit to Italy in 1875, whose work, he claimed, freed him from academicism. His control of the effect of light and shade, his love of expressive movement and character and awareness of the bony structures beneath skin enabled Rodin to model figures of startling realism; pieces such as Eternal Spring caused a sensation. In addition to free-standing sculpture he completed numerous commissions of statues, portraits, gates and monuments and made designs for other works. His prolific graphic work was also extraordinary. By 1900 the reputation of his exemplary skill and craftsmanship was internationally established but still subject to controversy. He exerted a powerful and lasting influence on successive generations of sculptors.

Masterpieces:

• The Kiss
• The Hand of God

Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.

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