RODIN, AUGUSTE. – Sculptor, b. in Paris on 12 November 1840, d. in Meudon on 7 November 1917, one of the most notable figures in modern French art.
A contemporary of the leading painters of the group of the impressionists (v.) R., continuing along the path already begun by Rude and pursued by Carpeaux toward an accentuated pictorialism in the modelling of sculptural masses, arrived at a rapid, at times barely allusive rendering of forms in movement. In this way R. achieved effects of astonishing efficacy, conveying the multiplicity of expressions and sentiments. Nevertheless, a certain emphasis, with which figurations dense with meanings that are also literary are imbued, often suggests that his own modelling, through violent, tumultuous contrasts of shadow and light, is at times related to the rhetorical poses of an imaginative, excessive, theatrical temperament, and one certainly too self-confident. It is nonetheless undeniable that R. possessed a highly personal technique that surpassed the bounds of virtuosity. For this reason as well, his personality as a truly learned, robust, and exceptionally skilful artist attracted some of the foremost artistic figures of his time, decisively influencing the formation of their taste.
Among his first works marked by a personal style is the mask of the Homme au nez cassé, which was exhibited at the Salon of 1864, provoking an extremely violent scandal. The scandal was to be renewed thirty-four years later when, amid heated controversy, the sketch for the monument to Balzac was exhibited—one of R.’s finest works, in our view. Among these should also be included, rather than the overly famous group of the Burghers of Calais, the Gate of Hell, or the Thinker himself, repeatedly replicated and much imitated, several exceptionally beautiful portraits and a number of drawings.