AUGUSTE RODIN
French 1840-1917

August Rodin is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most prolific sculptors of the 19th and 20th centuries - the last great classical sculptor and the founder of modern sculpture. Rodin turned away from the Neo-Classicism favoured by his contemporaries and instead emphasized fragmentation, rejected idealism, and chose to reflect his subjects as they truly appeared. His works were so innovative that Parisian art critics initially denounced them. Despite these rejections, Rodin’s works were well received outside of France and eventually won the recognition of his countrymen.

Born in Paris on November 12, 1840, Rodin expressed interest in art at an early age. At 14 he attended La Petite Ecole, a school for drawing and mathematics. From 1854 to 1857 he studied at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. In 1862 however, he was so devastated by the death of his sister that Rodin turned to religion and joined the Order of the Holy Sacrament. It was during this time that Rodin sculpted the bust of Father Piere-Julien Eynard. Realizing that religion was not his calling, he returned to Paris in 1863.

After brief employment as a corporal in the French National Guard, Rodin traveled to Belgium and Italy. He studied Michelangelo’s works and was greatly impressed and influenced by the Italian sculptor’s depictions of musculature and the human form. In 1877 Rodin exhibited his nude masterpiece “L’Age d’Airin” (The Age of Bronze) in Brussels and Paris, but unfortunately this realistic work was not well received. Critics accused Rodin of casting the statue directly from living models instead of sculpting it himself. With time Rodin gained popular support and the French government eventually purchased the sculpture as the first of many state acquisitions of his work.