Auguste Rodin

Biography

French artist, one of the world's master sculptors whose work influenced countless of other artists in the late

nineteenth and early twentieth century. His magnificent pieces included "The Kiss," 1886, "The Thinker," 1888

and "The Burghers of Calais" in 1895. Originally trained at the Petite Ecole, a school for training artisans,

Rodin was refused admission to the more prestigious and established Ecole des Beaux-Arts three times.

Rodin used his status as an outsider from the French art establishment to develop his own style of realism and

naturalism revolutionizing French sculpture in the process. By the turn of the century, Rodin was the most

celebrated sculptor in France with notoriety in Brussels, London, and Munich. In 1890, he received the Cross

of the Legion of Honor. On 15 December 1916, the National Assembly voted to establish the Rodin Museum in

the Hotel Biron to house his bronzes, marbles, paintings, drawings and plasters.

Rodin was born in Paris to a Norman father and a mother from Lorraine, France. He went to school in Rouen

from 1851-1853. At 14, he entered the Petite Ecole, a school for the decorative arts. After completing his

studies in 1858, Rodin produced decorative stonework to earn a living. In 1862, his sister Marie died leaving

him devastated. He entered as a novitiate the Society of the Blessed Sacrament, a religious order. The head

of the order encouraged Rodin to return to the secular world and continue his calling as an artist. He studied at

the Louvre, Bibliotheque Imperiale, Musee d'Histoire Naturelle, and in the studio of Carrier-Belleuse, a

decorative sculptor of the Second Empire. Rodin joined the National Guard for a few months in 1870. The

following year, Rodin left the Guard and went to Brussels to work on decorative busts for first time sculpture

buyers of the middle-class. For six years, Rodin worked on commissions for building projects and anticipated

his return to Paris. He took a trip to Italy in the winter of 1875-76 to study the Italian Renaissance and find

inspiration with Michelangelo's sculptures. Back in Brussels, he worked on his sculpture, "The Age of Bronze"

which he exhibited in the Salon of 1877. It was a sensation. Controversy surrounded the anatomical realism of

the figure convincing critics that the sculpture was cast from life. Rodin disputed the charge but the publicity

generated around the work catapulted the artist into the art establishment.

The biggest event that occurred in Rodin's career was in 1880 with the commission he received from Edmond

Turquet, the Undersecretary of State for Fine Arts, to create a sculptural portal for the planned Musee des Arts

Decoratifs. He chose the theme of Dante's Inferno for "The Gates of Hell." By mid-1884, he was ready to give

the estimate of the cost of casting "The Gates" in bronze. He continued to work on the project for four more

years. By the time he wished to give the first public display of the plaster group in 1900, the plans for the doors
had been changed and the Musee des Arts Decoratifs were now housed inside the Louvre. The existing casts

were all made after Rodin's death. In "The Gates of Hell" was his famous central figure of Dante who evolved

into "The Thinker." In 1884, he won the commission of the city government of Calais to erect a monument to

five prominent citizens of the city during the English siege of Calais in 1347. Rodin ruffled the art

establishment when he unveiled his masterpiece "Honore de Balzac" at the Salon of 1898. The public was

hostile to the artist's depiction of the French novelist and the statue was rejected by the group which

commissioned the work. At the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900, Rodin held a large retrospective exhibition

of his work housed in a pavilion built with his own finances. By this time, he was famous around the world with

art exhibitions in other European capitals receiving many honors as one of the greatest artist in his medium.

In 1864, Rodin met Rose Beuret, a seamstress who became his lifelong companion and model. She gave him

a son and he married her shortly before his death. Rodin taught his gifted student and lover of almost 15

years, Camille Claudel. She modeled for some of his works.

Rodin died on 17 November 1917 at the Villa des Brillants in Meudon, France.

Link to Wikipedia biography