François Auguste René Rodin (1840-1917)
was a French sculptor. Although he is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture.
François Auguste René Rodin was a famous French graphic designer and a well known artist, who was born on November 12, 1840 in Paris, France. He was born as the son of a very conservative family. He really took part in inducing the period of Modernism and the period of modern sculpting with his artwork.
The life of Auguste Rodin
When he reached the age of thirteen he became a student of the "École Spéciale de Dessin et de Mathématiques". In 1854 he changed the school and attended the "École des Arts Décoratifs" until 1862. In his early life he tried several times to attend the "Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris", but failed every time. He became a member of the order of Saint-Sacrement the day Rodin`s sister died.
In 1864, be become a student of Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse but they got departed because of a clash of opinion. But before the clash he followed his master Carrier-Belleuse to Brussels, where he also got first paid contract work, for which he gained recognition. For finding the famous "Secret of Michelangelo" he travelled to Italy in 1875/76 and returned to France in 1877. In Brussels, Rodin created his first full-scale work, The Age of Bronze, having returned from Italy.
Influences on his works
In France the artist started to study the secrets of the Gothic cathedrals in France. During 1879 and 1882 he worked at a porcelain factory in Sèvres. The next year he met Camille Claudel, who was first one of his students and later his sweetheart; they separated in 1893. In 1894 he settled down in Meudon, where he was surrounded by young artists and authors. In 1900 some of his artwork was shown at the World Exhibition in Paris, France at "Pavillion Rodin". 1904 he met Gwen John, a female painter from Wales, who was first his model and later his new sweetheart.
In 1907 he rented another studio where nowadays part of the descendant`s estate is shown; the formal studio is nowadays known as the Musée Rodin. At the age of 76 he married his common-law wife Rose Beuret. Sadly Beuret died short time after the wedding because of pneumonia. The great sculptor and widower died the same year on November 17, 1917 in Meudon, France. The Gates of Hell, an unfinished portal for a museum that was never built, is mentioned as his best known wort of art.
Even the gate never got executed by him, it was posthumous executed. But he separated many figures of the "Gates of Hell", like his famous sculptures and art works "The Kiss" and "The Thinker".