Auguste Rodin Franois Auguste Rene Rodin 1840 1917

Auguste Rodin • François Auguste Renée Rodin • 1840 -1917 • Schooled traditionally but always pushed the boundaries. • Favored realism. • Captured the curves and contrasts of the real human body by emphasizing texture, expressed with a kind of roughness that some people criticized as appearing “unfinished”.

Poor vision, unhappy at a young age. Couldn’t see figures drawn on blackboard (near-sighted). Unaware of imperfect eyesight; took solace in drawing pictures By age 13, Rodin had developed obvious skills as an artist, and began taking formal art courses. Began to doubt himself, receiving little validation or encouragement from his instructors and fellow students. Four years later, at age 17, Rodin applied to attend the École des Beaux-Arts, a prestigious art school in Paris. –very disappointed when the school denied him admission, and deeply saddened when his application was rejected twice thereafter. Dejected and desperate to earn a living, in the late 1850 s, Rodin began working as a decorative bricklayer. (20 years) Traveled to Italy and became inspired to try sculpting.

sculpted his first piece, "The Vanquished" (renamed "The Age of Bronze"), 1878. Piece well-received. Poverty a problem for Rodin until age 30. Clients sought him out. By 1900 was world-renowned. Began to live with a seamstress, Rose Beuret, at age 24 and stayed with her for the rest of his life. Commitment to her sketchy. Had a son with her. Remained committed to her even though he began a stormy affair with Camille Claudel, leading a sort of “ double life. ” Both women knew of the other.

• Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, deeply pocketed surface in clay. • Many of his most notable sculptures were criticized during his lifetime. They clashed with sculpture tradition, in which works were decorative, formulaic, or highly thematic. • Modeled the human body with realism, and celebrated individual character and physicality. • Was sensitive to the controversy surrounding his work, but refused to change his style. • Married lifelong companion a year before he died.

Le Baiser (The Kiss) 1886

The Cathedral • Was carved from stone, and still has the tool marks in it from when it was carved. • combination of two right hands, belonging to two different figures. 1908 • It was entitled The Ark of the Covenant, before being named The Cathedral. • Measurements: H. 64 cm ; W. 29. 5 cm ; D. 31. 8 cm • Created in 1908 • Represents two people joined together.

Hands of Lovers

I am Beautiful Je suis belle 1882

Hand coming out of a tomb

Danaïd 1885 Modeled for The Gates of Hell circa 1885, this figure was eventually excluded from the final version of the portal. Adapting a mythological theme – the daughters of Danaos, or Danaïds, were made to fill up a bottomless barrel with water in punishment for killing their husbands on their wedding night. Instead of representing the Danaïd in the act of filling the barrel, as in conventional iconography, Rodin shows her despair as she realizes the pointlessness and absurdity of her task. Exhausted, she rests her head “like a huge sob” on her arm.

The Walking Man L’homme qui marche 1877, finished in 1878.

Les Bourgeois de Calais, 1889. Serves as a monument to an occurrence in 1347 during the Hundred Years' War, when Calais, an important French port on the English Channel, was under siege by the English for over a year. The story goes that England's Edward III laid siege to Calais, while Philip VI of France ordered the city to hold out at all costs. Philip failed to lift the siege, and starvation eventually forced the city to parley for surrender.

Edward offered to spare the people of the city if any six of its top leaders would surrender to him, presumably to be executed. Edward demanded that they walk out wearing nooses around their necks, and carrying the keys to the city and castle. One of the wealthiest of the town leaders, Eustache de Saint Pierre, volunteered first, and five other burghers joined with him. Saint Pierre led this envoy of volunteers to the city gates. Although the burghers expected to be executed, their lives were spared by the intervention of England's Queen Philippa, who persuaded her husband to exercise mercy, claiming that their deaths would be a bad omen for her unborn child. Closeup of one of the figures in Les Bourgeois de Calais.

The Gates of Hell (La Porte de l’Enfer) The Thinker Worked on for about 30 years. Thinker was originally at the top left corner doorjamb looking down. Each of the main figures included was originally designed to represent one of the main characters in hell in Dante's epic poem of 1321, The Divine Comedy. Was not finished in Rodin’s lifetime.

Young Girl with Flowers in her Hair 1870

Bust of Rochefort This piece of art was done in 1884 and enlarged and slanted on its base in 1898

The Hand of God (1903) �Represents the bodies of the first man and woman. The hand represents the creator of it all which is God, or the sculptor as well. • There are numerous versions of the piece in both marble and bronze. �Deja Hutchinson, 8 th period

This statue is called the Hand of God. Auguste Rodin was asked to make this hand sculpture in 1906 and it was executed 1907. This sculpture is in many museums throughout Europe and France. The hand represents God.

different views

The Three Shades 1886 Note the almost complete horizontal line of the necks of each figure –shows a more expressive force. In Dante’s Divine Comedy, the shades, i. e. the souls of the damned, stand at the entrance to Hell, pointing to an inscription, “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here”. Rodin made several studies of Shades, before finally deciding to assemble three identical figures that seem to be turning around the same point. He placed them on top of The Gates, from where they could gaze down at the spectator -

The Age of Bronze It was modeled in 1876

The Thinker 1880 -81 Originally entitled Le Poète The Cleveland Museum of Art's "The Thinker" statue has a unique history in relation to the other original casts of The Thinker supervised by Rodin. In 1970, the museum's Thinker was blown up by radical protesters. Its legs and bottom section were actually blown up with the upper part remaining intact. After stabilizing it, the museum decided to leave the statue in the damaged state. Cast was supervised by Rodin himself.