Auguste Rodin

{"Id":143,"Name":"Auguste Rodin","Biography":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERODIN, AUGUSTE (1840-1917),\u003C/strong\u003E French sculptor, born Fran\u0026ccedil;ois-Auguste-Ren\u0026eacute; Rodin in 1840, in Paris, and at an early age displayed a taste for his art. He began by attending \u003Ca class=\u0022link\u0022 href=\u0022https://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=266\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EBarye\u0027s\u003C/a\u003E classes, but did not yield too completely to his influence. From 1864 to 1870, under pressure of necessity, he was employed in the studio of \u003Ca class=\u0022link\u0022 href=\u0022https://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=791\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECarrier-Belleuse\u003C/a\u003E, where he learnt to deal with the mechanical difficulties of a sculptor. Even so early as 1864 his individuality was manifested in his \u003Cu\u003EMan with a Broken Nose\u003C/u\u003E. After the war, finding nothing to do in Paris, Rodin went to Brussels, where from 1871 to 1877 he worked, as the colleague of the Belgian artist Van Rasbourg, on the sculpture for the outside and the caryatides for the interior of the Bourse, besides exhibiting in 1875 a \u003Cu\u003EPortrait of Garnier\u003C/u\u003E. In 1877 he contributed to the Salon \u003Cu\u003EThe Bronze Age\u003C/u\u003E, which was seen again, cast in bronze, at the \u003Ca class=\u0022link\u0022 href=\u0022http://www.bartleby.com/65/sa/Salon.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESalon\u003C/a\u003E of 1880, when it took a third-class medal, was purchased by the State, and is now in the museum of the Luxembourg. Between 1882 and 1885 he sent to the Salons busts of \u003Ca class=\u0022link\u0022 href=\u0022https://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=868\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EJean-Paul Laurens\u003C/a\u003E and Carrier-Belleuse (1882), \u003Ca class=\u0022link\u0022 href=\u0022http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EVictor Hugo\u003C/a\u003E and \u003Ca class=\u0022link\u0022 href=\u0022https://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=22\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EDalou\u003C/a\u003E (1884), and \u003Ca class=\u0022link\u0022 href=\u0022http://54.1911encyclopedia.org/P/PR/PROUST_ANTONIN.htm\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EAntonin Proust\u003C/a\u003E (1885). From about this time he chiefly devoted himself to a great decorative composition six metres high, which was not finished for twenty years. This is the \u003Cu\u003EGates of Hell\u003C/u\u003E, the most elaborate perhaps of all Rodin\u0027s works, executed to order for the Mus\u0026eacute;e des arts d\u0026eacute;coratifs. It is inspired mainly by Dante\u0027s \u003Cu\u003EInferno\u003C/u\u003E, the poet himself being seated at the top, while at his feet, in under-cut relief, we see the writhing crowd of the damned, torn by the frenzy of passion and the anguish of despair. The lower part consists of two bas-reliefs, in their midst two masks of tormented faces. Round these run figures of women and centaurs. Above the door three men cling to each other in an attitude - of despair. After beginning this titanic undertaking, and while continuing to work on it, Rodin executed for the town of Damvillers a statue of \u003Ca class=\u0022link\u0022 href=\u0022https://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=269\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EBastien-Lepage\u003C/a\u003E ; for Nancy a \u003Cu\u003EMonument to Claude le Lorrain\u003C/u\u003E, representing the Chariot of the Sun drawn by horses; and for Calais \u003Cu\u003EThe Burgesses of Calais\u003C/u\u003E surrendering the keys of the town and imploring mercy. In this, Rodin, throwing over all school tradition, represents the citizens not as grouped on a square or circular plinth, but walking in file. This work was exhibited at the Petit Gallery in 1889. At the time of the secession of the National Society of Fine Arts, or New Salon, in 1890, Rodin withdrew from the old Society of French Artists, and exhibited in the New Salon the bust of his friend \u003Ca class=\u0022link\u0022 href=\u0022https://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=666\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EPuvis de Chavannes\u003C/a\u003E (1892), \u003Cu\u003EContemplation\u003C/u\u003E and a \u003Cu\u003ECaryatid\u003C/u\u003E, both in marble, and the \u003Cu\u003EMonument to Victor Hugo\u003C/u\u003E (1897), intended for the gardens of the Luxembourg.\u003Cbr /\u003E\u003Cbr /\u003EAuguste Rodin died and \u003Ca class=\u0022link\u0022 href=\u0022http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr\u0026amp;GRid=7748981\u0026amp;pt=Auguste%20Rodin\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ewas interred\u003C/a\u003E in Meudon, \u0026Icirc;le-de-France, France on November 17, 1917.\u003Cbr /\u003E\u003Cbr /\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cu\u003ESource:\u003C/u\u003E\u003C/strong\u003E Entries on the artist in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http://51.1911encyclopedia.org/R/RO/RODIN_AUGUSTE.htm\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E1911 Edition Encyclopedia\u003C/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodin\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EWikipedia\u003C/a\u003E.\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C/p\u003E","Awards":null,"HasAlbums":false,"HasPortraits":true,"HasRelationships":true,"HasArticles":false,"HasDepictedPlaces":false,"HasLetters":false,"HasLibraryItems":false,"HasProducts":true,"HasSignatures":false,"HasVideos":true,"HasMapLocations":true,"TotalArtworks":133}