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“I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don’t need”: the father of modern sculpture, Auguste Rodin, made it sound very easy. In reality, his personal and professional life was one long struggle, full of rejection, suffering, poverty and criticism. It took him years to gain recognition, respect and financial security.
Born in 1840 in Paris, he studied drawing and sculpture initially, but couldn’t progress as he was rejected by École des Beaux-Arts several times, and his first major work — Man With a Broken Nose was not accepted to the Salon.
After working as a decorator, then joining Carrier-Belleuse’s studio and traveling in Europe, he developed and evolved as realist, eager to show human body in motion. He moved away from polished, static forms of classical sculpture, and tried to present the beauty in simple human body, often rough and in movement.
His next major work — The Age of Bronze, was accepted by the Salon in 1877, but it still caused lots controversy. It was so impressively realistic that rumours spread that it’s made from a model’s cast. Allegedly, that that was the reason that Rodin’s all the subsequent works were either bigger or smaller than human size.
St. John the Baptist Preaching, his next major work, was depicting the movement and St. John walking towards the viewer, although his both feet are on the ground.
A major breakthrough in Rodin’s life happened when he met Leon Gambetta, a statesman, who was impressed by his works and introduced him to other government officials and he was eventually commissioned to create The Gates of Hell for the planned Museum of Decorative Arts in 1880. It was a gigantic undertaking, on which Rodin worked for decades.
The Gates present different scene’s from Dante’s Inferno and some of the scenes and figures have become separate sculptures. Some of his most recognisable works — such as The Kiss and The Thinker, were originally conceived as figures on the Gates. Those figures became tributes to a range of human emotions and feelings, sensuality and intellectual effort — all expressed in strong and impressive physical forms.
Rodin spent 5 years on Burghers of Calais, 1884–1889, commemorating a dramatic and moving moment from the 100 years war, when the 6 most prominent citizens of Calais agreed to sacrifice their lives and surrender to the winner — England’s Edward III. They were pardoned eventually, but the story of their bravery and selflessness lived on. After completion, this composition also became a source of controversy as the public and the critics thought it’s not heroic enough, while Rodin wanted to represent their pain and suffering.
While he gained the recognition he deserved in his later years, his revolutionary work was often greeted with controversy, like the commissions for Victor Hugo’s and Honoré de Balzac statues.
His personal life was no less turbulent. He was in an on and off relationship with Rose Beuret for more than 50 years, only marrying her 2 weeks before her death in 1917. He was also romantically involved with sculptor Camille Clodel, who tragically destroyed many of her works after developing a mental illness, and accusing Rodin of stealing her ideas.
Rodin left all his drawings and sculptures to the state of France for a museum in the Hotel Biron at Meudon, where his studio was.
Image: The London cast of The Burghers of Calais
