Auguste Rodin

August Rodin (1840-1917) was a French sculptor considered by many to be the father of modern sculpture, although he did not intentionally set out to change the art form. Rodin studied traditionally, worked tirelessly on technique and wanted recognition in the academic world. Some of his most celebrated works focuses on the human form, departing from the traditional mythology and allegorical subject matter used by his contemporaries.

Born in Paris to a working-class family in 1840, Rodin was largely self-educated. He applied three times for entrance to the Grande Ecole, but was denied each time, it was a particular setback as the entrance requirements were not especially difficult. Rodin would work as a craftsman for the next two decades, producing embellishments and decorative objects. He moved in with Rose Beuret in 1864, which he stayed with, on and off, for the remainder of his life and they had a son, Auguste Eugene Beuret, in 1866.
Rodin struggled with poverty for himself and his family until the age of thirty, and in an effort to find work he travelled to Belgium to work as a chief assistant to Albert-Ernst Carrier-Belleuse on a Brussels’ bourse.

Rodin originally planned to stay for a few months but ended up spending six years abroad, gaining skills and continuing to find employment even after his relationship with Carrier-Belleuse deteriorated. Rodin completed the The Age of Bronze in Belgium, and the realism of the figure brought Rodin the attention of the art world but also led to accusations of cheating by using casts of a living model, claims which Rodin vehemently denied.

In 1877, Rodin and Rose Beuret returned to Paris and both their son, who might have been developmentally challenged, and Rodin’s father, who was blind and senile, moved in with the couple. Rodin soon began to seek other female companionship, although he remained with Rose and his family. Rodin received in 1880 a commission for a planned museum to create a portal, the museum was never finished, but many of the figures Rodin had intended for the portal became sculptures, including his most famous works, The Thinker and The Kiss.

The Thinker was originally named The Poet, and is a sculpture of a man sitting in sober contemplation, appearing to be in a battle with his inner self. The sculpture often represents philosophy and is one of the most immediately recognizable icons of intellectual activity and has been the subject of endless satire. The Kiss, as the name suggests, depicts a couple embracing, lips not touching, displaying an eroticism that made the sculpture controversial when first displayed. Much of his works, including several public commissions such as Monument to Balzac, created controversy or were met with resistance because they did not meet conventional expectations.

Rodin was not only a sculptor, although the success and notoriety of his sculptures tend to obscure the rest of his body of work, he also painted in oils and watercolours and created thousands of drawings and prints. He worked constantly and was incredibly prolific, leaving behind some 7000 works. Rodin was a naturalist and believed that emotion and character came through in his works, he was less concerned with expression, instead emphasizing the solid flesh of the body, demonstrated in his many fragmented works, such as the Walking Man.

Rodin married Rose Beret after almost 53 years of being together, but she died two weeks later. After suffering a bout of influenza, Rodin passed away at the age of 77, was buried in Meudon and had a cast of his figure The Thinker placed next to his tomb as it was his wish for the sculpture to serve as both his epitaph and headstone. Rodin was largely considered one of the greatest artists of his era and had been compared to Michelangelo in his lifetime. He left behind the legacy of a renewed interest in the ancient role of sculpture and some of the most iconic sculptural masterpieces in modern times.