French expression, reflected in the stone. A flight of imagination, a moment that stopped, a pronounced sensuality of work. All these are sculptures of Rodin.
Today we will talk about the work of this great artist, who has made an enormous contribution to world culture. In addition, he made a revolutionary breakthrough in sculpture.
Biography
Auguste Rodin was the second child from the second marriage of a Parisian official. He had an older sister, Marie, who managed to beg her father to send her brother to Little School. There, the boy begins to learn his future profession.
He is interested in everything related to sculpture, attends various courses, but his attempts are not successful. For example, he did not enter the School of Fine Arts from the third time. After the sister's death, the young man began to have problems, and for a short time he abandoned this type of activity.
He was returned to the “true path” by the priest Piei Eimar, to whom Roden acted as a novice in a difficult period of his life. At 24, the young man meets a seamstress Rosa Bere, who influenced his confidence. After the beginning of their relationship, Auguste opens his first workshop.
After recognition at the age of forty, the artist begins a stormy life. He receives the first state order for a portal in a Paris museum, which he never managed. The famous sculpture "The Thinker" by Rodin, like many others, was originally planned as part of this composition.
Further, while traveling around Europe, the artist gets acquainted with critics and other sculptors who introduce him to the world of the art elite.
In recent years, Roden has become rich, has acquired an estate, from the government he was allocated a whole pavilion. At the end of his life, the sculptor moonlighted by creating busts and portraits of high-ranking Europeans. His clients included generals, artists, and even kings.
Becoming
The works of the French sculptor for a long time did not find a response in the hearts of critics and society. He started as a decorator, and later opened the first workshop in the stable. He was a little over twenty years old.
The first significant work for Rodin was a bib of Bibi, today this work is known as “The Man with a Broken Nose”. But the audience found out about him only a few years later, since the Paris Salon did not agree to exhibit him the first time.
Sculptures of Rodin are gradually being improved. The greatest influence in his life had two women - Rosa and Camilla. It is their images that are reflected in most works.
Later, Auguste begins to put into practice the idea of "the embodiment of motion in stone." So the works “Walking” and “John the Baptist” appear. An unknown Italian peasant became a model for them, who offered the sculptor his services after the latter returned from Italy.
The final recognition comes to Rodin after forty years. A significant event that influenced the artist’s next life was his acquaintance with Antonin Proust. It was the French Minister of Fine Arts, who, like Auguste Rodin, visited Madame Juliette Adam's salon.
Hell Gate
Now we will talk about the most famous and significant composition of Auguste Rodin. He devoted his whole life to this masterpiece. The "Gates of Hell" subsequently spilled into the bulk of the statues, authored by Roden. The sculptures with the names "Kiss", "The Thinker" and many others were once only sketches in the process of creating a masterpiece.
You will be amazed, but the Frenchman worked on this work for more than twenty years. The composition was ordered as a design for the entrance doors of the Paris Museum of Decorative Arts. At this time, its construction was only planned.
It is noteworthy that from this moment begins the official recognition of the sculptor in higher circles. Until the eighties of the nineteenth century, his work was evaluated too ambiguously. Most were generally perceived as an attack on the moral principles of society. But after the start of work on the first state order, Rodin's sculptures arouse interest among collectors from different countries.
In fact, the master did not have time to finish the "Gates of Hell" before his death. They were recreated and cast finally from bronze after his death. Many of the statues, which were an integral part of the composition, turned into independent works of art.
What was the idea of designing the front door of the museum? Inspired by Augustus Rodin undertook to embody all human life on this canvas. He took the poem of Dante Alighieri as the basis, but in the process of work he was greatly influenced by Baudelaire and the French Symbolists. When it all fell on the fertile ground of the author’s personal impressionism, real masterpieces began to turn out. Next we will talk about them in more detail.
Eternal spring
Rodin's sculpture “Eternal Spring” is the embodiment of the impressionist mood of the author. In it, he expressed the true essence of passion at the moment when nothing else was left. This is the second when all prohibitions collapse and the mind turns off.
The composition shows the meeting of a young boy and girl somewhere in a park or forest. Their bodies are naked, but served in a vague manner, thanks to which the author shows the time of the event. Passion swept the young couple at dusk.
The girl gracefully bent, but her pose shows that she is losing strength, crumbling under the boy’s love onslaught. It was thanks to the stopped moment that the sculpture "Spring" became a masterpiece.
Long before the creation of this composition, Rodin began to explore female sensuality, working with sitters. In addition, most of the sculptures were inspired by an eccentric relationship with Camilla Claudel. Rodin’s passion for this woman was expressed in “Kiss”, “Eternal Spring” and other openly erotic compositions.
Kiss
The sculptures Spring and Kiss by Rodin amaze with the images of the women depicted in them. Let's dwell on the latter.
So, Rodin's sculpture “Kiss” was originally called “Francesca da Rimini”. Only in 1887 did critics give her the nickname, which was fixed thanks to the assistance of the media.
This work has an amazing story. It was created under the influence of the Divine Comedy. This poem tells about this heroine. She fell in love with her husband's younger brother. Their meetings took place while reading stories about Lancelot. Noticing the passion that shone in their eyes, Francesca's husband killed both. The tragedy is described in the Fifth song of the Second Circle of Hell.
It is noteworthy that in the sculptural composition of the kiss does not occur. Their lips are close to each other, but do not touch. In his right hand a young man holds a book. That is, with this, the author wanted to say that the "Platonic" lovers died without sinning.
The main difference of the Rodin women is in the equal position with men. They are not subordinate, but are in the position of a partner, experiencing the same feelings in strength. They also have identical rights with the opposite sex to fulfill their aspirations.
When a smaller bronze copy of Kiss was sent to the exhibition in Chicago, the jury did not allow it to be publicly displayed. She was in a closed room with permission only for recording and permission. The basis of this relationship was the explicit eroticism of the moment, which expresses the composition. In addition, the antique naturalness of the figures was not entirely accepted in American society of that period.
Today, there are official copies of the sculpture, made by the artist to order. The first is in the Rodin Museum and was created by order of the French government for 20 thousand francs. The second was bought by a collector from England, but she did not live up to his expectations and for a long time was behind the stable. Today it is located in Liverpool, but it is often rented by English museums. The third copy is in Copenhagen. Three more sculptures were bought by the Museum d'Orsay. Thus, the composition initially adopted “with hostility” nevertheless received public recognition after the death of the author.
Thinker
Now we will talk about the most famous work of the French artist. The sculpture "The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin was created in two years, from 1880 to 1882.
This statue bears the influence of the ingenious Michelangelo Buonarotti, the Italian writer Dante Alighieri and his "Divine Comedy". The original name of the sculpture is “Poet”. This model was once part of the sculptural composition "The Gates of Hell." Today, the work is exhibited in the Paris museum of this artist.
As for many other compositions, Paris boxer and street fighter Bo Jean posed for Auguste Rodin. He had an athletic physique and good muscle texture. It is noteworthy that this sculpture is made with maximum allegorism. The author tried to express physical power in isolation from the image of a specific person.
Surprisingly, the sculpture “The Thinker” by Rodin was first shown to the public in the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Later it was cast in bronze and exhibited in Paris. The size of the new bronze version was increased to 181 centimeters. Until 1922 he was in the Pantheon, and after that - in the Rodin Museum.
It is noteworthy that at the opening of the sculpture in the Pantheon in 1904, the author stated that this composition is a monument to the workers of France.
Today, there are more than twenty copies of this statue in France and other countries. For example, in Philadelphia, near the Rodin Museum, in Copenhagen, near the entrance to Columbia University.
Calais Citizens
A completely new approach to art distinguishes Rodin from the mass of sculpture. Photo composition "Calais Citizens" only confirms this.
If you try to analyze these statues, you can come to mixed conclusions. The artist’s innovation was expressed primarily in the absence of a pedestal. Auguste Rodin insisted on the position of the figures at the level of passers-by, in addition, an important clause was their size. They were planned in human growth.
Why were such conventions important for the artist? To understand this, one should turn to the history, which served as the basis for the monument.
During the centennial war, the English king besieged the city of Calais. Residents, refusing to give up, locked the gates and prepared for a long blockade. The siege lasted more than a year. The supply of food ran out, and the population of Calais was forced to surrender.
The English monarch Edward III presented the following conditions on which he would accept surrender. He should have been given six wealthy and famous citizens to execute them. But the lot was not needed. First came Eustache de Saint Pierre, the richest banker in the city. He decided to sacrifice himself to save his beloved city. Five more noble townspeople followed him.
Struck by such self-sacrifice, the wife of the English king begged her husband to have mercy on them. This six has not been executed.
Thus, Rodin's sculptures symbolize the fact that heroism is hiding in each of us. It is only necessary to create certain conditions for its manifestation.
Bronze Age
The next work of the great French sculptor has a very interesting story. It contains the artist’s admiration for visiting the monuments of the Renaissance and the inability of academic circles to accept new ideas.
So, what did Auguste Rodin do before art? Sculptures usually depict some kind of idea in the material plane. It can be both abstract and concrete.
The difficulty was that, creating a sculpture, later called the Bronze Age, the author did not get distracted by the details. He simply took a cast from the body of a Belgian soldier, who struck him with the athleticism of his physique.
Later on this cast was simply cast a bronze figure. This is exactly what outraged most critics. They felt that this was not an expression of art, but simply an ordinary amateur project. But the French creative elite defended the sculpture of Rodin.
What does the author himself say about this? He wanted to express the courage of the soldiers of France in the figure of this soldier. But in the process of working on the work, the concept was completely changed. The final version was supposed to arouse in the audience a feeling of rebellion and the awakening of human power, and not serve as a reflection of suffering.
If you look closely at the figure, we will notice an obvious imitation of the sculpture of Michelangelo Buonarotti "The Dying Slave." Indeed, this is so, because the work was created after a trip to Italy.
Heritage
To date, there are officially three museums in the world dedicated to the work of this artist. Roden's sculptures are exhibited in Paris, Philadelphia and Medone, where the grave and the former villa of the master are located.
Auguste Rodin during his lifetime allowed to make copies of his creations for commercial purposes. So, in the foundries more than 500 copies of the sculptures “The Eternal Idol” and “Kiss” were officially produced.
Thanks to this policy of the great master, his masterpieces in the form of copies are in the most famous museums in the world. They can be found among the exhibits in the Hermitage (St. Petersburg), the Pushkin Museum (Moscow), the National Gallery of Art (Washington), the Metropolitan (New York), the Museum of Copenhagen and other institutions.
However, in 1956, a law was officially adopted in France, which prohibits all copies already made, starting with the thirteenth, to be considered authentic. Legally, from that time onwards, only twelve copies were allowed to be removed from each creation of Auguste Rodin. But since all rights after the artist’s death passed to the French Museum, the rights of the heirs do not affect this decision.
Critics' ratings
We met with such a phenomenon of French culture as Auguste Rodin. The sculptures of this artist were in many museums in the world. Why did the audience love his style? Let's listen to the opinions of critics.
Rodin’s work is permeated through two innovative ideas, with the help of which he revolutionized the art of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The first is the movement. His creations live their own lives. They just froze for a second under the searching eyes of the audience. It seems that a moment will pass, and they will begin to breathe again, their veins will pulsate, and their figures will move.
To create such an effect, the master watched for hours and made sketches from nude sitters who walked around his studio. Moreover, he categorically did not recognize the services of professional posers. Auguste invited only young people from the common people. Workers, soldiers and others.
Secondly, it is emotionality. The author believed that the sculptures live their own lives, changing after their creator. Therefore, Rodin did not recognize completeness and canons. During the work, the Frenchman made a series of casts of sitters from different angles. Thus, his masterpieces gradually formed, being obtained from a kaleidoscope of details seen from several angles.
So, today we met with the life and work of Auguste Rodin, one of the greatest sculptors of the nineteenth century.
Travel more often, dear friends! Enjoy life in all its manifestations.