Figures in Movement

Figures in Movement

Auguste Rodin was born into humble beginnings in Paris, France, in 1840. After failing to excel academically he was sent to a boarding school run by an uncle in Beauvais but Rodin's shy nature and shortsightedness meant that he could still barely read and write by the time he left in 1854.

After enrolling in the École Impériale de Dessin Rodin began to experiment with drawing and modeling in clay. He applied to France's most prestigious art school, École des Beaux-Arts but was rejected three times. A job in a commercial art workshop in 1858 allowed him to develop his sculpting skills and he began to work on his privert pieces, exhibiting Man with a Broken nose in 1863 at the Paris Salon. After working in Brussels for several months the artist exhibited The Age of Bronze, the first of his pieces that truly caught the attention of Parisian society.

Although Rodin became known under controversial circumstances, he was commissioned by the French Ministry of Fine Arts in 1880 and the resulting piece, was The Gates of Hell which spawned some of Rodin's most famous works.

Although he never married, his long-term partner was Rose Beuret and the couple had one son together. Although Rodin stayed with Rose, it was during this period of his life that he embarked on an intense relationship with a young sculptor named Camille Claudel. Both artists were heavily influenced by the other and carried on their relationship until Claudel broke it off in 1898, after realizing Rodin would never leave Rose.[1]

Some of Rodin's most famous works from this period include monuments to some of the greats of Paris society, including the writers Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac and the artist Claude Lorrain.In 1908 Rodin moved into the Hotel Biron and although the building was due to be demolished in 1912, Rodin used his influence to save it and in return promised that his whole estate would be given to the French Government upon his death.

Auguste Rodin's style continued to develop throughout his long and distinguished career. The lack of any formal training, unlike many of his contemporaries, would ultimately be the making of one of the most innovative sculptors the world has ever known. The realism that defined Rodin's early work developed into a more expressionist style but his skill at rendering the human figure was key to his success and is something that few other artists can rival. Rodin's early style was developed by focusing on his own education and the works of other sculptors of the time who received training at the Belle de Artes. Rodin's rebellion against academic sculpture helped him to stand out at the Salon exhibition and it allowed him to change the face of sculpturing for a new generation of artists. Rodin sought to depict the physical realism of his subjects rather than their character and this led to his first life-size work, The Age of Bronze, being falsely accused of being cast from a model, something ...