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RODIN, AUGUSTE (184o— )

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 447 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RODIN, AUGUSTE (184o— ) , See also:French sculptor, was See also:born in 1840, in See also:Paris, and at an See also:early See also:age displayed a See also:taste for his See also:art. He began by attending See also:Barye's classes, but did not yield too completely to his See also:influence. From 1864 to 1870, under pressure of See also:necessity, he was employed in the studio of See also:Carrier-Belleuse, where he learnt to See also:deal with the See also:mechanical difficulties of a sculptor. Even so early as 1864 his individuality was manifested in his " See also:Man with a Broken See also:Nose." After the See also:war, finding nothing to do in Paris, Rodin went to See also:Brussels, where from 1871 to 1877 he worked, as the colleague of the Belgian artist See also:Van Rasbourg, on the See also:sculpture for the outside and the See also:caryatides for the interior of the See also:Bourse, besides exhibiting in 1875 a " Portrait of Garner." In 1877 he contributed to the See also:Salon " The See also:Bronze Age," which was seen again, See also:cast in bronze, at the Salon of i88o, when it took a third-class See also:medal, was See also:purchased by the See also:State, and is now in the museum of the Luxembourg. Between 1882 and 1885 he sent to the Salons busts of " See also:Jean-See also:Paul See also:Laurens " and " Carrier-Belleuse " (1882), " See also:Victor See also:Hugo " and " See also:Dalou " (1884), and " Antonin See also:Proust " (1885). From about this See also:time he chiefly devoted himself to a See also:great decorative See also:composition six metres high, which was not finished for twenty years. This is the " Portal of See also:Hell," the447 most elaborate perhaps of all Rodin's See also:works, executed to See also:order for the Musee See also:des arts decoratifs. It is inspired mainly by See also:Dante's Inferno, the poet himself being seated at the See also:top, while at his feet, in under-cut See also:relief, we see the writhing See also:crowd of the damned, torn by the frenzy of See also:passion and the anguish of despair. The See also:lower See also:part consists of two bas-reliefs, in their midst two masks of tormented faces. See also:Round these run figures of See also:women and See also:centaurs. Above the See also:door three men cling to each other in an attitude 'of despair. After beginning this titanic undertaking, and while continuing to See also:work on it, Rodin executed for the See also:town of Damvillers a statue of " Bastien-Lepage "; for See also:Nancy a " See also:Monument to See also:Claude le Lorrain," representing the See also:Chariot of the See also:Sun See also:drawn by horses; and for See also:Calais " The Burgesses of Calais " surrendering the keys of the town and imploring See also:mercy.

In this, Rodin, throwing over all school tradition, represents the citizens not as grouped on a square or circular See also:

plinth, but walking in See also:file. This work was exhibited at the See also:Petit See also:Gallery in 1889. At the time of the See also:secession of the See also:National Society of See also:Fine Arts, or New Salon, in 189o, Rodin withdrew from the old Society of French Artists, and exhibited in the New Salon the bust of his friend " Puvis de Chavannes " (1892), " Contemplation " and a " Caryatid," both in See also:marble, and the " Monument to Victor Hugo " (1897), intended for the gardens of the Luxembourg. In this the poet is represented nude, as a powerful old man extending his right See also:arm with a See also:sovereign gesture, the See also:Muses See also:standing behind him. In 1898 Rodin exhibited two very dissimilar works, " The See also:Kiss," exhibited again in ',goo, a marble See also:group representing See also:Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da See also:Rimini, and the See also:sketch in See also:plaster for a " Statue of See also:Balzac." This statue, a See also:commission from the Society of Men of Letters, had See also:long been expected, and was received with vehement dissensions. Some critics regarded this. work, in which Balzac was represented in his voluminous dressing-See also:gown, as the first-fruits of a new phase of sculpture; others, on the contrary, declared that it was incomprehensible, if not ridiculous. 'This was the view taken by the society who had ordered it, and who " refused to recognize Rodin's rough sketch as a statue of Balzac, " and withdrew the commission, giving it to the sculptor See also:Falguiere. Falguiere exhibited his See also:model in 1899. In the same Salon, Rodin, to prove that the conduct of the society had made no See also:change in his friend-See also:ship with Falguiere, exhibited a bust in bronze of his See also:rival, as well as one of " See also:Henri See also:Rochefort." In 1900, the See also:city of Paris, to do See also:honour to Rodin, erected at its own expense a See also:building See also:close to one of the entrances to the Great See also:Exhibition, in which almost all of the works of the artist were to be seen, more especially the great " Portal of Hell," still quite incomplete, the " Balzac," and See also:ghost of other works, many of them unfinished or See also:mere rough sketches. Here, too, were to be seen some of Rodin's designs, studies and See also:water-See also:colour drawings. He has also executed a great many etchings and sgraffiti on See also:porcelain for the manufactory at Sevres. His best-known See also:etching is the portrait of Victor Hugo.

Many of Rodin's works are in private collections, and at the Luxembourg he is represented by a " Donald " (in marble), a " See also:

Saint See also:John " (in bronze, 188o), " She who made the See also:Helmet " (bronze statuette), the busts of " J. P. Laurens " and of " A See also:Lady " and other works. In the Musee Galliera is a very fine bust of Victor Hugo. Rodin's " See also:Hand of See also:God " was exhibited in the New Gallery, See also:London, in 1905. In 1904 Mr Ernest Beckett (See also:Lord See also:Grimthorpe) presented the See also:British nation with the sculptor's " Le Penseur." In the same See also:year Rodin became See also:president of the See also:International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Engravers, in See also:succession to See also:James McNeill See also:Whistler. See SCULPTURE (See also:Modern French) ; also See also:Geffroy, La See also:Vie artistique (Paris, 1892, 1893, 1899, 1900) ; L. Maillard, Rodin (Paris, 1899) ; La Plume, Rodin et son oeuvre (Paris, 1900) ; See also:Alexandre, Le Balzac de Rodin (Paris, 1898); H. Boutet, See also:Dix dessins choisis de Auguste Rodin (1904) ; R. Dircks; Auguste Rodin (1904) ; H. Duhem, Auguste Rodin (1903); C. See also:Black, Auguste Rodin: the Man, his Ideas and his Works (1905).

End of Article: RODIN, AUGUSTE (184o— )

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