Auguste Rodin was a prominent French sculptor best known for "The
Thinker."
He was born Francois-Auguste-Rene Rodin, on November 12, 1840, in
Paris, France. His father, Jean-Baptiste Rodin, was a detective in the
Paris police department. His mother, Marie Cheffer, was a former
seamstress. Rodin was somewhat shy and nearsighted from an early age.
Young Rodin started serious drawing lessons at the age of 10. From the
age of 14 he studied art at the École Impériale de Dessin, a government
school for craft and design (also called "la Petite École", or "Small
School") in Paris. There he discovered sculpture and acquired a
thorough grounding in the tradition of French 18th-century art. Rodin
also studied anatomy under the tutelage of sculptor Antoine-Louis
Barye. In 1858 he left "la Petite Ecole" and sought admission to study
at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts; he applied three times but was rejected
each time. So, instead of a formal education, Rodin served a long and
difficult apprenticeship under Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, a highly
successful sculptor, for whom Rodin started as a modeler, then became
an assistant. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 he followed
his teacher to Belgium. There he became a partner of Antoine Van
Raspbourgh and worked on monumental allegorical sculptures for the
Brussels Bourse.
Rodin considered "Man with the Broken Nose" to be his earliest major
work. Much to his disappointment, the Salon rejected the work twice, in
1864 and 1865. While in Brussels Rodin made a number of decorative
female figures in terra cotta, to which he began to sign his name. In
1875 he made a trip to Italy. where he studied the works of
Michelangelo. In 1876 Rodin created "The Bronze Age" and exhibited it
in Brussels and at the Salon des artistes Francais in Paris. He was
falsely accused by critics of having cast the entire statue from a live
model. The French government bought "The Bronze Age" and a bronze model
of St. John the Baptist. From 1879-1882 Rodin worked at the Manufacture
de Sevres. In 1884 the city council of Calais commissioned a monument
that became "The Burghers of Calais". In 1888 the French government
commissioned "The Kiss" in marble for the Universal exhibition of 1889.
Rodin became the founding member of the Société Nationale des
Beaux-Arts. At that time he exhibited with
Claude Monet. In the 1890s he created
monuments to Claude Le Lorrain,
Victor Hugo and
Honoré de Balzac, and also worked on
other commissions. In 1892 Rodin was promoted to Officer of the Légion
d'Honneur. In 1899 the large-scale "Eve" was shown at the Salon. In
1903 Rodin was appointed Commander of the Légion d'Honnoeur.
In 1864 Rodin met a seamstress, Rose Beuret. They had a son, named
Auguste-Eugene Beret, who was born in 1866. Rose became the model for
many of his works. She and Rodin remained lifetime companions and
formally married in 1917, the year they both died. Rodin had another
relationship with a student named Camille Claudel, who was 25 years
younger than him. She became his mistress at the age of 18, and
inspired Rodin as a model for his several sculptures of passionate love
couples. Camille was also a talented pupil; she worked for Rodin and
assisted him during his four-year work on the bronze group "Les
Bourgeois de Calais" ("The Burghers of Calais", 1884-1888).
Unfortunately, her mental problems brought tragic complexity in Rodin's
life (she was eventually committed to a mental asylum). He remained
attached to Rose, who patiently endured his other affairs. In 1903 he
met an English painter, Gwendolen Mary John, and she became his
mistress and was his model for "The Whistler Muse". In 1904 Rodin met
the American-born Duchess Claire de Choiseul, who dominated his life
until 1912. His complex relationships found reflection in his works:
"Eternal Spring", "The Poet and Love", "The Genius and Pity", "The
Sculptor and his Muse".
Rodin preferred to sketch the natural spontaneity of amateur models,
street acrobats, athletes and dancers. He worked with the freely moving
models instead of copying traditional academic postures. From freely
walking models Rodin would make quick sketches in clay, which he later
reworked and fine-tuned, then cast in plaster and forged into bronze. A
large staff of pupils, craftsmen and stonecutters were working for him,
including Bourdelle. Rodin's method of evolutionary development of his
initial idea into a masterpiece was demonstrated by creation of "The
Kiss" and "The Thinker", which were derived from smaller reliefs within
"The Gates of Hell", a work he was commissioned to create in 1880 for a
museum in Paris. For that project he made a palm-size sketch of "The
Kiss" and a first small plaster version of "The Thinker" as a figure of
the poet Dante Alighieri. "The Kiss" was
completed in marble in 1889. By that time he had exhibited a mid-size
version of "The Thinker", which was cast in bronze in the 1890s.
Meanwhile, Rodin made countless variations of "The Thinker" by subtle
alterations to its pose and expression until he achieved the desired
result with one of the bigger versions.
In the course of 20 years Rodin was taking lengthy breaks in order to
refresh his view of the work. At the same time he also became more
experienced as an artist and a man. He gradually developed the initial
palm-size sketch into the final life-size sculpture by 1901. The first
large-scale bronze cast was completed in 1902, by A. A. Hebrard, but
was rejected by Rodin. Rodin also made another enlarged version of "The
Thinker" in 1904. Bronze casts were not made by Rodin himself but by a
professional reducteur, Henri Lebosse, under Rodin's supervision.
Finally Rodin turned to foundry owner Alexis Rudier, who made the 1904
bronze cast; it was unveiled to the public at the Paris Salon in 1904.
Rodin was somewhat satisfied with Rudier's foundry and approved several
subsequent casts.
Rodin's works are distinguished by their lifelike energy and realism.
His art embraced all aspects of humanity, ranging from distress and
moral weakness to the heights of passion and beauty. Rodin's most
famous bronze sculpture, "The Thinker", was originally named "The Poet"
as a depiction of Dante Alighieri in front of the Gates of Hell. "The
Thinker" was an achievement of a special harmony in showing premiere
human qualities: heroic, poetic and intellectual. It was recast in over
20 copies for major museums, and was also reproduced in millions of
smaller versions and became one of the most recognizable icons of art.
Rodin's masterpieces--"The Age of Bronze", "The Burghers of Calais",
"Eve", "The Kiss" and "The Thinker"--are among the most celebrated
works of art in the world.
From 1908-1917 Rodin lived at the Hotel Biron in Paris. There his
neighbors included artist Henri Matisse,
writer Jean Cocteau and dancer
Isadora Duncan. In 1912 the French
government scheduled the Hotel Breton for demolition and ordered the
tenants to vacate. Rodin persuaded the government to allow him to stay.
As an exchange, in 1916 Rodin gave his entire collection of art to
France on the condition that the state maintain the Musée Rodin. The
collection contains Rodin's most significant works, including "The
Thinker", "The Kiss", "The Gates of Hell" and "The Burghers of Calais"
in the front garden. Rodin's living rooms are decorated with paintings
by Vincent van Gogh,
Claude Monet, and
Pierre-Auguste Renoir that he had acquired.
Rodin's own works and other art objects are still placed as Rodin set
them.
Auguste Rodin enjoyed friendships with some of the most important
writers and artists of the day, such as Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne,
Émile Zola,
Robert Louis Stevenson
and George Bernard Shaw. Rodin died
on November 17, 1917, in Mendon, France, and was laid to rest beside
Rose Beuret in the Cemetery of Mendon, Ile-de-France. A bronze cast of
"The Thinker" was placed at the base of his tomb.
