Editing Auguste Rodin (section)

==Works==
[[File:Rodin The bronze age.jpg|alt=Life-sized nude stature of a male on a pedestal on display in a museum.|thumb|right|upright|''[[The Age of Bronze]]'' (1877)]]

In 1864, Rodin submitted his first sculpture for exhibition, ''[[The Man with the Broken Nose]]'', to the [[Paris Salon]]. The subject was an elderly neighborhood street porter. The unconventional [[bronze]] piece was not a traditional [[bust (sculpture)|bust]], but instead the head was "broken off" at the neck, the nose was flattened and crooked, and the back of the head was absent, having fallen off the clay model in an accident. The work emphasized texture and the emotional state of the subject; it illustrated the "unfinishedness" that would characterize many of Rodin's later sculptures.<ref>Janson, 637.</ref> The Salon initially rejected the piece, though it would accept a version carved in marble by an assistant of Rodin's in 1875.<ref>{{cite web |title=Man with the Broken Nose - Rodin Museum |url=http://www.musee-rodin.fr/en/collections/sculptures/man-broken-nose |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416204141/http://www.musee-rodin.fr/en/collections/sculptures/man-broken-nose |archive-date=2021-04-16 |access-date=2016-10-14}}</ref>

===Early figures: the inspiration of Italy===
In Brussels, Rodin created his first full-scale work, ''[[The Age of Bronze]]'', having returned from Italy. Modeled after a Belgian soldier, the figure drew inspiration from Michelangelo's ''[[Dying Slave]]'', which Rodin had observed at the [[Louvre]]. Attempting to combine Michelangelo's mastery of the human form with his own sense of human nature, Rodin studied his model from all angles, at rest and in motion; he mounted a ladder for additional perspective, and made clay models, which he studied by candlelight.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tate |title=The Making of Rodin |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/ey-exhibition-rodin/exhibition-guide#:~:text=Rodin%20was%20in%20his%20mid,all%20angles,%20even%20from%20above. |access-date=2025-04-26 |website=Tate |language=en-GB}}</ref> The result was a life-size, well-proportioned nude figure, posed unconventionally with his right hand atop his head, and his left arm held out at his side, forearm parallel to the body.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Joan Vita |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Rodin/nYYD8amhfGAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=did+Rodin+studied+his+model+from+all+angles&pg=PA96&printsec=frontcover |title=Rodin: The B. Gerald Cantor Collection |last2=Marotta |first2=Gary |date=1986 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-0-87099-443-2 |pages=96 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1877, the work debuted in Brussels and then was shown at the Paris Salon. The statue's apparent lack of a theme was troubling to critics – commemorating neither mythology nor a noble historical event – and it is not clear whether Rodin intended a theme.<ref>Hale, 50.</ref> He first titled the work ''The Vanquished'', in which form the left hand held a spear, but he removed the spear because it obstructed the torso from certain angles. After two more intermediary titles, Rodin settled on ''The Age of Bronze'', suggesting the [[Bronze Age]], and in Rodin's words, "man arising from nature".<ref name="H51">Hale, 51.</ref> Later, however, Rodin said that he had had in mind "just a simple piece of sculpture without reference to subject".<ref name="H51"/>

Its mastery of form, light, and shadow made the work look so naturalistic that Rodin was accused of ''surmoulage'' – having taken a cast from a living model. Rodin vigorously denied the charges, writing to newspapers and having photographs taken of the model to prove how the sculpture differed. He demanded an inquiry and was eventually exonerated by a committee of sculptors. Leaving aside the false charges, the piece polarized critics. It had barely won acceptance for display at the Paris Salon, and criticism likened it to "a statue of a sleepwalker" and called it "an astonishingly accurate copy of a low type".<ref name="H51"/> Others rallied to defend the piece and Rodin's integrity. The government minister Turquet admired the piece, and ''The Age of Bronze'' was purchased by the state for 2,200 [[franc]]s – what it had cost Rodin to have it cast in bronze.<ref name="H51"/>

[[File:St-John-the-Baptist-Preaching.jpg|alt=Nude man holding is hand out, as if explaining a point.|thumb|upright|''St. John the Baptist Preaching'' (1878)]]
A second male nude, ''[[Saint John the Baptist (Rodin)|St. John the Baptist Preaching]]'', was completed in 1878. Rodin sought to avoid another charge of ''surmoulage'' by making the statue larger than life: ''St. John'' stands almost {{convert|6|ft|7|in|m}}. While ''The Age of Bronze'' is statically posed, ''St. John'' gestures and seems to move toward the viewer. The effect of walking is achieved despite the figure having both feet firmly on the ground – a technical achievement that was lost on most contemporary critics.<ref>Hale, 80.</ref> Rodin chose this contradictory position to, in his words, "display simultaneously...views of an object which in fact can be seen only successively".<ref name="H68">Hale, 68.</ref>

Despite the title, ''St. John the Baptist Preaching'' did not have an obviously religious theme. The model, an Italian peasant who presented himself at Rodin's studio, possessed an idiosyncratic sense of movement that Rodin felt compelled to capture. Rodin thought of [[John the Baptist]] and carried that association into the title of the work.<ref name="H68"/> In 1880, Rodin submitted the sculpture to the Paris Salon. Critics were still mostly dismissive of his work, but the piece finished third in the Salon's sculpture category.<ref name="H68"/>

===''The Gates of Hell''===
{{main|The Gates of Hell}}
[[File:Zürich - Kunsthaus - Rodin's Höllentor IMG 7384 ShiftN.jpg|alt=Ornate, bronze door panels and frame showing figures and scenes in relief.|thumb|upright|left|''[[The Gates of Hell]]'' (unfinished), [[Kunsthaus Zürich]]]]

A commission to create a [[Gate|portal]] for Paris' planned Museum of Decorative Arts was awarded to Rodin in 1880.<ref name="j638"/> Although the museum was never built, Rodin worked throughout his life on ''[[The Gates of Hell]]'', a monumental sculptural group depicting scenes from [[Dante Alighieri|Dante's]] ''[[The Divine Comedy|Inferno]]'' in high relief. Often lacking a clear conception of his major works, Rodin compensated with hard work and a striving for perfection.<ref name="elsen35">Elsen, 35.</ref>

He conceived ''The Gates'' with the ''surmoulage'' controversy still in mind: "...I had made the ''St. John'' to refute [the charges of casting from a model], but it only partially succeeded. To prove completely that I could model from life as well as other sculptors, I determined...to make the sculpture on the door of figures smaller than life."<ref name="elsen35"/> Laws of composition gave way to the ''Gates''' disordered and untamed depiction of Hell. The figures and groups in this, Rodin's meditation on the condition of man, are physically and morally isolated in their torment.<ref name = "qgzhpg">Jianou & Goldscheider, 41.</ref>

''The Gates of Hell'' comprised 186 figures in its final form.<ref name = "qgzhpg"/> Many of Rodin's best-known sculptures started as designs of figures for this composition,<ref name="morey"/> such as ''[[The Thinker]]'', ''[[The Three Shades]]'', and ''[[The Kiss (Rodin sculpture)|The Kiss]]'', and were only later presented as separate and independent works. Other well-known works derived from ''The Gates'' are ''[[Ugolino and His Sons (Rodin)|Ugolino]]'', ''Fallen [[Caryatid]] Carrying her Stone'', ''[[Fugitive Love|Fugit Amor]]'', ''She Who Was Once the Helmet-Maker's Beautiful Wife'', ''[[The Falling Man (Auguste Rodin)|The Falling Man]]'', and ''[[The Prodigal Son (sculpture)|The Prodigal Son]]''.

===''The Thinker''===
{{main|The Thinker}}
[[File:The Thinker, Rodin.jpg|thumb|upright|Rodin's ''[[The Thinker]]'' (1879–1889) is among the most recognized works in all of sculpture.]]
''The Thinker'' (originally titled ''The Poet'', after Dante) was to become one of the best-known sculptures in the world. The original was a {{convert|27.5|in|mm|adj=on}} high bronze piece created between 1879 and 1889, designed for the ''Gates''<nowiki>'</nowiki> [[lintel]], from which the figure would gaze down upon Hell. While ''The Thinker'' most obviously characterizes Dante, aspects of the Biblical [[Adam]], the mythological [[Prometheus]],<ref name="j638"/> and Rodin himself have been ascribed to him.<ref name="bell"/><ref name="alhadeff"/> Other observers de-emphasize the apparent intellectual theme of ''The Thinker'', stressing the figure's rough physicality and the emotional tension emanating from it.<ref>Taillandier, 42, 46, 48.</ref>

===''The Burghers of Calais''===
{{main|The Burghers of Calais}}

[[File:The.burg.of.calais.london.arp.750pix.jpg|alt=See adjacent text.|thumb|left|''[[The Burghers of Calais]]'' (1884–ca. 1889) in [[Victoria Tower Gardens]], London, England]]
The town of Calais had contemplated a historical monument for decades when Rodin learned of the project. He pursued the commission, interested in the medieval motif and patriotic theme. The mayor of Calais was tempted to hire Rodin on the spot upon visiting his studio, and soon the memorial was approved, with Rodin as its architect. It would commemorate the six townspeople of Calais who offered their lives to save their fellow citizens.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Burghers of Calais {{!}} Victoria Tower Gardens |url=https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/victoria-tower-gardens/things-to-see-and-do/burghers-of-calais |access-date=9 May 2023 |website=The Royal Parks |language=en |archive-date=9 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230509180024/https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/victoria-tower-gardens/things-to-see-and-do/burghers-of-calais |url-status=live }}</ref>

During the [[Hundred Years' War]], the army of [[King Edward III]] besieged Calais, and Edward ordered that the town's population be killed ''en masse''. He agreed to spare them if six of the principal citizens would come to him prepared to die, bareheaded and barefooted and with ropes around their necks. When they came, he ordered that they be executed, but pardoned them when his queen, [[Philippa of Hainault]], begged him to spare their lives. ''[[The Burghers of Calais]]'' depicts the men as they are leaving for the king's camp, carrying keys to the town's gates and citadel.<ref name="swedberg" /><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://resources.metmuseum.org/resources/metpublications/pdf/Auguste_Rodin_The_Burghers_of_Calais_A_Resource_for_Educators.pdf |title=AUGUSTE RODIN · THE BURGHERS OF CALAIS: A Resource for Educators |publisher=THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART |year=2000 |access-date=1 July 2023 |archive-date=29 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729005308/http://resources.metmuseum.org/resources/metpublications/pdf/Auguste_Rodin_The_Burghers_of_Calais_A_Resource_for_Educators.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Rodin began the project in 1884, inspired by the chronicles of the siege by [[Jean Froissart]].<ref name="swedberg">{{cite journal|last=Swedberg|first=Richard|title=Auguste Rodin's ''The Burghers of Calais'': The Career of a Sculpture and its Appeal to Civic Heroism|journal=Theory, Culture & Society|volume=22|issue=2|pages=45–67|year=2005|doi=10.1177/0263276405051665|s2cid=145116141}}</ref> Though the town envisioned an [[allegorical]], heroic piece centered on Eustache de Saint-Pierre, the eldest of the six men, Rodin conceived the sculpture as a study in the varied and complex emotions under which all six men were laboring. One year into the commission, the Calais committee was not impressed with Rodin's progress. Rodin indicated his willingness to end the project rather than change his design to meet the committee's conservative expectations, but Calais said to continue.<ref name="swedberg" />

In 1889, ''The Burghers of Calais'' was first displayed to general acclaim. It is a bronze sculpture weighing {{convert|2|ST|kg|sigfig=4|spell=in}}, and its figures are {{convert|6.6|ft|m|abbr=on}} tall.<ref name="swedberg"/> The six men portrayed do not display a united, heroic front;<ref name="apollo">{{cite journal|author=Stocker, Mark|title=A simple sculptor or an apostle of perversion?|journal=Apollo|pages=94–97|volume=164|issue=537|date=November 2006}}</ref> rather, each is isolated from his brothers, individually deliberating and struggling with his expected fate. Rodin soon proposed that the monument's high pedestal be eliminated, wanting to move the sculpture to ground level so that viewers could "penetrate to the heart of the subject".<ref>Hale, 117.</ref> At ground level, the figures' positions lead the viewer around the work, and subtly suggest their common movement forward.<ref>Hale, 115</ref>

The committee was incensed by the untraditional proposal, but Rodin would not yield. In 1895, Calais succeeded in having ''Burghers'' displayed in their preferred form: the work was placed in front of a public garden on a high platform, surrounded by a cast-iron railing. Rodin had wanted it located near the town hall, where it would engage the public. Only after damage during the First World War, subsequent storage, and Rodin's death was the sculpture displayed as he had intended. It is one of Rodin's best-known and most acclaimed works.<ref name="swedberg"/>

===Commissions and controversy {{Anchor|Balzac}}===
[[File:Auguste Rodin portrait middle aged.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Rodin in mid-career]]

Commissioned to create a monument to French writer [[Victor Hugo]] in 1889, Rodin dealt extensively with the subject of ''artist and muse''. Like many of Rodin's public commissions, ''Monument to Victor Hugo'' was met with resistance because it did not fit conventional expectations. Commenting on Rodin's monument to Victor Hugo, ''[[The Times]]'' in 1909 expressed that "there is some show of reason in the complaint that [Rodin's] conceptions are sometimes unsuited to his medium, and that in such cases they overstrain his vast technical powers".<ref>{{cite news|title=M. Rodin and French Sculpture|newspaper=The Times|date=4 October 1909|page=12}}</ref> The 1897 plaster model was not cast in bronze until 1964.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Butler |first=Ruth |title=Rodin's monument to Victor Hugo |last2=Plottel |first2=Jeanine Parisier |last3=Roos |first3=Jane Mayo |date=1998 |publisher=Merrell Holberton Iris and B. Gerald cantor foundation |others=Iris and B. Gerald Cantor foundation |isbn=978-1-85894-070-0 |location=London Los Angeles |pages=IV}}</ref>

The ''Société des Gens des Lettres'', a Parisian organization of writers, planned a monument to French novelist [[Honoré de Balzac]] immediately after his death in 1850. The society commissioned Rodin to create the memorial in 1891, and Rodin spent years developing the concept for his sculpture. Challenged in finding an appropriate representation of Balzac given the author's rotund physique, Rodin produced many studies: portraits, full-length figures in the nude, wearing a [[frock coat]], or in a [[robe]] – a replica of which Rodin had requested. The realized sculpture displays Balzac cloaked in the drapery, looking forcefully into the distance with deeply gouged features. Rodin's intent had been to show Balzac at the moment of conceiving a work<ref name="times1711">{{cite news|title=Auguste Rodin. His Sculpture And Its Aims|newspaper=The Times|date=19 November 1917|page=11}}</ref> – to express courage, labor, and struggle.<ref>Hale, 136.</ref>

[[File:Auguste Rodin - Monument to Victor Hugo.jpg|thumb|Rodin observing work on the monument to [[Victor Hugo]] at the studio of his assistant Henri Lebossé in 1896]]
When ''[[Monument to Balzac]]'' was exhibited in 1898, the negative reaction was not surprising.<ref name="bell">{{cite journal|last=Bell|first=Millicent|title=Auguste Rodin|journal=Raritan|volume=14|pages=1–31|date=Spring 2005}}</ref> The ''Société'' rejected the work, and the press ran [[parodies]]. Criticizing the work, Morey (1918) reflected, "there may come a time, and doubtless will come a time, when it will not seem ''outre'' to represent a great novelist as a huge comic mask crowning a bathrobe, but even at the present day this statue impresses one as slang."<ref name="morey"/> A modern critic, indeed, claims that ''Balzac'' is one of Rodin's masterpieces.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schor|first=Naomi|title=Pensive Texts and Thinking Statues: Balzac with Rodin|journal=Critical Inquiry|year=2001|volume=27|issue=2|pages=239–64|doi=10.1086/449007|s2cid=161863627}}</ref>

The monument had its supporters in Rodin's day; a manifesto defending him was signed by [[Monet]], [[Debussy]], and future [[Prime Minister of France|Premier]] [[Georges Clemenceau]], among many others.<ref>Hale, 122.</ref> In the [[BBC]] series [[Civilisation (TV series)|''Civilisation'']], art historian [[Kenneth Clark]] praised the monument as "the greatest piece of sculpture of the 19th Century, perhaps, indeed, the greatest since [[Michelangelo]]."<ref>[[Civilisation (TV series)|Civilisation]], [[BBC]], Episode 12</ref> Rather than try to convince skeptics of the merit of the monument, Rodin repaid the ''Société'' his commission and moved the figure to his garden. After this experience, Rodin did not complete another public commission. Only in 1939 was ''[[Monument to Balzac]]'' cast in bronze and placed on the [[Boulevard du Montparnasse]] at the intersection with [[Boulevard Raspail]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rodin Works: Monument to Balzac |url=http://www.rodin-web.org/works/1891_balzac.htm |access-date=2025-04-03 |website=Rodin-Web.org}}</ref>

===Other works===
[[File:Rodin Reclining woman.jpg|alt=Pencil and watercolor depiction of a nude reclining woman.|thumb|right|upright|''Reclining Woman'' (1890s) in the [[National Museum, Warsaw]]]]

The popularity of Rodin's most famous sculptures tends to obscure his total creative output. A prolific artist, he created thousands of busts, figures, and sculptural fragments over more than five decades. He painted in [[Oil painting|oils]] (especially in his thirties) and in [[Watercolor painting|watercolors]]. The Musée Rodin holds 7,000 of his drawings and prints, in [[chalk]] and [[charcoal]], and thirteen vigorous [[drypoint]]s.<ref>Hale, 12.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Early Drawings by Auguste Rodin|author=Varnedoe, Kirk|journal=The Burlington Magazine|volume=116|issue=853|date=April 1974|pages=197–204}}</ref>

Portraiture was an important component of Rodin's oeuvre, helping him to win acceptance and financial independence.<ref>Hale, 82.</ref> His first sculpture was a bust of his father in 1860, and he produced at least 56 portraits between 1877 and his death in 1917.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Rodin and His English Sitters|first=Marion J.|last=Hare|journal=The Burlington Magazine|volume=129|issue=1011|year=1987|pages=372–81}}</ref> Early subjects included fellow sculptor [[Jules Dalou]] (1883)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Auguste Rodin {{!}} Jules Dalou (1838–1902) |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/191806 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref> and companion Camille Claudel (1884).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Camille Claudel |url=https://www.musee-rodin.fr/en/resources/rodin-and-artists/camille-claudel |access-date=2025-04-03 |website=[[Musée Rodin]]}}</ref>

Later, with his reputation established, Rodin made busts of prominent contemporaries such as English politician [[George Wyndham]] (1905),<ref>{{Cite web |title=George Wyndham |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/192373 |access-date=2025-04-03 |website=[[The Metropolitan Museum of Art]]}}</ref> Irish playwright [[George Bernard Shaw]] (1906),<ref>{{Cite web |title=George Bernard Shaw |url=https://static.nationaltrust.org.uk/waf/waf.html?_event_transid=629348403 |access-date=2025-04-03 |website=National Trust Collections}}</ref> socialist (and former mistress of the Prince of Wales who became King Edward VII) [[Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick|Countess of Warwick]] (1908),<ref>{{Cite book|title=Portraits of a lady|last=David|first=Buttery|date=1988|publisher=Brewin Books|isbn=0947731431|location=Studley, Warwickshire|oclc=26723104}}</ref> Austrian composer [[Gustav Mahler]] (1909),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Auguste Rodin {{!}} Gustav Mahler |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/490027 |access-date=2025-04-03 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref> former Argentine president [[Domingo Faustino Sarmiento]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=President Sarmiento |url=https://rodinmuseum.org/collection/object/103433 |access-date=2025-04-03 |website=[[Rodin Museum]] |language=en}}</ref> and French statesman [[Georges Clemenceau]] (1911).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Georges Clemenceau |url=https://rodinmuseum.org/collection/object/103432 |access-date=2025-04-03 |website=Rodin Museum |language=en}}</ref>

His undated drawing ''Study of a Woman Nude, Standing, Arms Raised, Hands Crossed Above Head'' is one of the works seized in 2012 from the collection of [[Cornelius Gurlitt (art collector)|Cornelius Gurlitt]].<ref name=spiegel>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/photo-gallery-munich-nazi-art-stash-revealed-fotostrecke-103675-18.html|title=Photo Gallery: Munich Nazi Art Stash Revealed|date=17 November 2013|work=Spiegel|access-date=17 November 2013|archive-date=3 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203015504/http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/photo-gallery-munich-nazi-art-stash-revealed-fotostrecke-103675-18.html|url-status=live}}</ref>