Artist of the Month

Auguste Rodin (Paris, 1840 - Meudon, 1917)
French Sculptor

Photograph of Rodin (1812)
Henri Manuel. Musée Rodin

 Rodin is, after Michelangelo, the best-known sculptor in the world -or, rather, his sculptures are the  famous ones. For he created icons such as The Kiss (1888-89) and The Thinker , works that have caused such a great impact they have seeped into our popular culture as archetypes of human behaviour.

The Hand of God (1898-1902) Marble.
Musée Rodin, Paris   

 Born in Paris to a very poor, dysfunctional and sick family (that would later influence his subject matter greatly). His beginnings were difficult, rejected by art school and working only on small projects. Not until 1880, when he joined the Sèvres porcelain factory, did his works became widely appreciated, not without the controversy that was always with him. Three years later, his tempestous relationship with 18-year-old Camille Claudel started: being his apprentice, they served each other as models and inspiration; but as a result of unrequited love, Camille suffered from paranoia and depression. Probably to forget this dark period, Rodin married his long-life companion in 1917, to die in peace nine months later at the age of 77.

 Ground-breaking (at the time) and essential to art history is the best definition of Rodin's style. A great admirer of Renaisance art, his early sculptures (1870s) show a typically Classical staticity that evolved to a freer, more original style during the 80s and 90s: rough surfaces, unfinished fragments and complex compositions aimed to capture the monumentality of humanity. His favourite materials were marble and clay, where he could model his imagination with great ease, and bronze to produce casts that would spread his fame. He always worked from life, and his most beautiful and innovative pieces are studies of hands and feet, where the spontaneity of movement is best explored, like in The Hand Of God. As Rodin said: "...isolated hands still had the complete capacity to express emotions..."