Auguste Rodin (Dictionary of World Biography: The 19th Century)
Article abstract: One of the greatest sculptors of all time, Rodin has been hailed for both the monumentality and the psychological penetration of his sculpture. Much of his work has a kinetic quality, a dynamism that takes over the solid material of his sculpture, transforming it into the expression of a towering personality.
Born the youngest of two children in a working-class home, Auguste Rodin was educated with great care under the supervision of his uncle in a friar’s school until he was fourteen. By the age of ten, he had already shown an interest in drawing, and it was thought that he would become an artisan. His teachers were impressed with his dedication and talent and encouraged him to believe that he would one day become a fine artist. Yet his early years were not full of success. Indeed, he failed three times to gain acceptance at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he had hoped to study sculpture.
Working as a craftsman, Rodin studied on his own the work of Antoine-Louis Bayre (1795-1875), who was famous for his lifelike depictions of animals. He also assisted Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824-1887) in his studio, beginning in 1864, and closely followed developments in the world of contemporary sculpture. His early sculptures, one of his father (c. 1860) and one of Father Pierre-Julien Eymard (1863), already exhibit his dexterous and precise sense for the human face. Father Eymard,...
(The entire section is 1916 words.)
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