Auguste
Rodin
1840 - 1917
The Truth Within
Paris, France
Paris in 1900
Paris in 1840
Auguste Rodin was born in Paris, France,
November 12, 1840.
How’d he start?
Rodin loved to draw when he was a child.
Cambodian Dancers
Cambodian Dancer
Cambodian Dancer
In July 1906, Auguste Rodin went to the palace of the president of
France for a garden party featuring the dancers of the Royal Ballet
of Cambodia. Rodin showed up with a ticket but no tie. He was
turned away, furious. He managed to see the dancers perform in
the Bois de Bologne a few days later. What he saw was so pure
and startling that it sparked in him a kind of fever he could only
describe as love.
"I contemplated them in ecstasy," he said. He followed the dancers back to
Marseille so precipitately that he left his art supplies behind and had to buy
butcher paper from a grocer to draw on.
Rodin sitting on a bench as he sketches a Cambodian dancer.
In 2006, the French government sponsored an exhibition of
Rodin’s drawings to celebrate the 100th anniversary of King
Sisowath's visit.
Schooling
He applied to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts three times, but was rejected.
Studied at the Petite Ecole, a school of decorative arts in Paris.
Began doing decorative sculpture to make a living.
Ecole des Beaux-Arts
Petite Ecole
His sister, Marie, died four years later.
This so traumatized Rodin that he entered a monastery.
Rodin in 1863 working on a bust
of Father Eymard.
Rose
In 1864, met Rose Beuret, a
seamstress, who (much later)
became his wife.
Sculptor’s Assistant
For many years,
Rodin worked as an
assistant to one of
France’s most
famous decorative
sculptors.
After seeing the
work of
Michelangelo in
Italy, 1875, he was
inspired to create
less commercial,
more artistic works.
Dying Slave, by Michelangelo
The Age of Bronze
Caused a scandal
because the critics
could not believe
Rodin didn’t use a
casting of a live
model to create the
sculpture.
Look familiar?
It’s called The Age of
Bronze, by Rodin, 1876
Controversy =
Career Boost
Five years later, Rodin was
comissioned to create a
magnificent door called The
Gates of Hell (from Dante’s
Inferno) for the yet unbuilt
Museum of Decorative Arts.
Still Waiting…
Ug! A train
station?!
The casting wasn’t completed until
after Rodin’s death, almost 40
years later, and the Museum was
never built. Instead, they built a
train station (!)
The arts get
no respect!
From Depot
to Divine
75 years later, the train station was
renovated and turned into the
current Musee D‘Orsay – a
museum containing French art
from the 1850s to 1900.
The Influence of the Gates
Even though The Gates of Hell was
unfinished at the time of Rodin’s
death, it occupied his mind for many
years, providing the basis for some
of Rodin’s most influential and
powerful work, including our focus
for today: The Thinker.
Notice the image at
the top of the doors
– looks familiar!
Probably also
influenced by The
Gates…
Famine to Feast
After The Gates of
Hell, Rodin was
commissioned to
create many more
monuments and
statues, many of
which are worldfamous.
The Burghers of Calais, 1888/1889
Beauty = Inner Truth
For Rodin, beauty
in art consisted in
truthfully
representing
one’s inner state.
For this reason,
he sometimes
distorted the
anatomy for the
sake of
expressing the
emotions more
clearly. (Notice
the length of the
hand?)
Man With a Broken Nose, 1864
The Man with the Broken Nose became The Mask of the Man with the Broken Nose when the cold
conditions of Rodin's studio caused the back of the head to freeze and break off.
Jean-Baptiste Rodin, 1864
Young Girl with Roses, 1872
Suzon, 1875
Victor Hugo, 1883
Portrait Head of Victor Hugo
Detail from The Burghers of Calais, 1888/1889
Giant Head of Pierre de Wiessant, 1889
The Genius of War
Auguste Rodin, 1888/1889
Hand of the Devil
Hand of God, 1898
Thought, 1898
The Secret, 1910
Hand Coming Out of a Tomb
Rodin’s funeral in Meudon,
November 24, 1917.
Our
Masterpiece
The Thinker, 1880
So what am I going to
ask you to do?
Naturalism vs. Realism. You will be sculpting the head of a person.
•You will receive a zip-lock bag
containing a plastic knife, a wooden
carving tool, and a bar of soap.
•The bag will have your name on it.
•Keep the bag! You will place your
finished carving inside.
•Unwrap the soap (duh).
•This project should be done outside so
throw away the soap wrapper on your way
out of the classroom.
Imagine the face/head you will carve.
Using one of the tools, lightly sketch into
the soap where the shape of the face,
eyes, nose, mouth, hair, etc. will be
placed.
Begin by shaving off little bits of
soap. If you do too much, the soap
could crack & break.
Look at the face of a classmate. Consider
the highest point (the nose) and the most
recessed (neck). You should hardly touch the
highest point, but you will have to shave off
much to get down to the neck area.
foreground
midground
background
Remember to carve all sides of the soap.
This is a 3-dimensional piece of art.
In a 3-D work of art we will be working with
form. The form of the soap when we
begin was a slab. Carefully cradle the
soap in your hands and whittle away areas
to change the slab form with straight edges
to a form with rounded edges and
indentations.
When you have finished, place your
soap carving in the zip-lock bag.
Return the plastic knife, carving tool and
soap sculpture to me.
I have a word search for those who finish
early.