Highly myopic sculptor: Who is Auguste Rodin?

François Auguste René Rodin, who carried the deep-rooted sculpture tradition of European art from the romanticism of the 19th century to the 20th century and the great artistic adventure of the modern age, was born in Paris on November 12, 1840. His family noticed his talent for drawing at a young age and sent him to the drawing school known as La Petite École (Small School) between 1854 and 1857.

Three applications of the artist who discovered the sculpture there and then wanted to attend the École des Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts) were rejected. Rodin, who started to work with many decorators and embellishers in order to sustain his life and support his family, continues drawing courses in the evenings while drawing the patterns of ancient works at the Louvre Museum. He goes to the horse market and makes many animal patterns.

François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 1840 – 17 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, and deeply pocketed surface in clay. He is known for such sculptures as The Thinker, Monument to Balzac, The Kiss, The Burghers of Calais, and The Gates of Hell.

Having lost his sister to an illness, Rodin decides to become a priest but is encouraged to return to the statue there, and soon returns. In 1864, he created his workshop while working with the French sculptor Albert Carrier-Belleuse.

In 1865, he made his first important work, The Man with the Broken Nose. His model in The Man with the Broken Nose is an old worker called Bibi, who cleans his workshop. In his work, Rodin highlights some features such as deep lines, a beard shape, and a broken nose. But a harsh winter freezes the original plaster bust and the back of the head falls off. Rodin presents the remainder as a mask to the French Artists' Exhibition in 1865, and the work is rejected on the grounds that it is fragmentary. However, the bust he rebuilt from marble is exhibited later. It is thought that the negative result he received for this work, which he called my first good sculpture, distracted the artist from academic understanding. Therefore, it can be said that he has an important place in his artistic life. In many ways, this early portrait of Rodin epitomizes the sculptor's working method and portrait concept.

Rose Beuret, whom he met in his workshop, modeled for Rodin and later became his girlfriend. Two years later, in 1866, their son, Auguste-Eugène Beuret, was born. Although Rodin joined the Garde Nationale (National Guard) with the rank of corporal in 1870, he was rendered rotten by severe myopia. He went to Italy in 1875 and studied the works of Michelangelo. “Everything I learned from studying ancient Greek sculptures in the Louvre was upended by Michelangelo,” he says.

There are also a few pictures of Rodin besides his sculptures. In 1889, he opened an exhibition with Claude Monet, one of the pioneers of impressionism.

His sculpture L'Âge d'Airain (Bronze Age), which is among the important works of Rodin, which has a great influence on modern art and sculpture, is as realistic as if it was molded from a model. There is a solidity and delicacy reminiscent of the masters of the Renaissance period in this work. The nude male sculpture with a very strong expression, depicted with his right hand fisted over his head and the other hand grasping a pole, caused criticism and even accusations, although it was immediately understood that it was not actually a mold, and the artist was asked to present something convincing. This accusation is brought up again when he sends the sculpture to the French Artists Exhibition a few months later. The sculpture is accepted for the exhibition, but despite all the efforts of the sculptor, it is not bought by the state. Just as France bought the Bronze Age three years later in 1880, they also ordered a door for the future Museum of Ornamental Arts.

The Gates of Hell is one of Rodin's most well-known and important works, inspired by Baudelaire's (Les Fleurs Du Mal) Flowers of Evil, over 5 meters tall and named after the Hell chapter of Dante's Divine Comedy, made between 1880 and 1917. The hell that Dante designed is a pit that narrows as one descends, consisting of nine interlocking floors, in which those who have committed different sins are punished. I Am Beautiful, inspired by Baudelaire's poem Beauty in The Flowers of Evil, is located at the top of the right wing of the door. Rodin later makes illustrations for this book by Baudelaire.

While working, Rodin constantly creates small sculptures, placing them among other figures at the Gates of Hell, then relocating them or using their pieces in other works.

Rodin's The Thinker sculpture is one of the most well-known works of art in the world. The Thinking Man sculpture is one of the works in which modern influences, open to plastic, are beginning to be seen. For this reason, when the sculpture, which was first created to represent Dante in the Hell's Gate work, is later taken off from here and exhibited on its own, it begins to be an indicator of a rational, humanist attitude with its plastic expression. What distinguishes the sculpture from other traditional figures is the psychological state that surrounds it. The first reflections of the Impressionism movement, which started with painting, are seen especially in Rodin's modeling sculptures. Perhaps one of the most influential images of this attitude is the Thinking Man sculpture. The sculpture, which has become a symbol in the reading and understanding of today's art thought, has been one of the most important works of modern sculpture.

In 1884, the Municipality of Calais wanted to immortalize an important historical event with a monument. This is the story of six townspeople who sacrificed themselves during the Hundred Years' War to deliver the key to the city to King Edward III. Rodin examines the historical sources related to the story and prepares the first model at the end of the year, it is appreciated. In 1885, Rodin sculpts his figures, but the local press criticizes the non-heroic stance of the figures and the composition, which deviates from the traditional monumental style. A major economic crisis, while the discussions continue, also brings the end of the project. Thus, the artist gets rid of all the pressures and exhibits this work in Paris in 1889, attracting great attention. 1892 the Municipality of Calais revived the project, and the artist inaugurated his monument in 1895. The Monument to the Bourgeoisie of Calais, a cast of which was placed in front of the Parliament in London in 1915, is one of Rodin's most impressive works with its striking composition and dramatic expression overflowing from its figures.

In 1883, he got to know the 19-year-old sculptor Camille Claudel and from 1884 Claudel joined Rodin's workshop. His talent and impressive personality attract Rodin, and they work together. She becomes Rodin's model, friend, and lover. When they met, Rodin had been in a relationship with Rose Beuret for nearly 20 years. Although Rodin is passionately in love with Camille, he never leaves Rose Beuret. Claudel becomes pregnant but loses her baby as a result of an accident. This turns his spiritual world upside down. During this period, she is rejected by her mother, Rodin's rude attitude and her starting to see Camille as her rival will be the end of their relationship. A passionate and tumultuous relationship that lasted 15 years, unfortunately, ends sadly for Claudel. In 1905, Claudel begins to have mental health problems. He breaks many of his statutes and begins to show signs of paranoia. He accuses Rodin of stealing his ideas and planning to kill him. Camille was put in a mental hospital in 1913 and remained there until her death in 1943.

There are many works that Camille and Rodin do together. The work called The Gates of Hell (Le Port de L'Enfer) is one of them. It is said that an important part of this work was done by Camille. Camille leaves works of rare strength and originality in the visual sense, but since she stepped into the art life with Rodin, unfortunately, she cannot escape from being remembered with Rodin's name, not with her own art, all her life, and even after her death.

The powerful effect of imperfection in Michelangelo's sculptures becomes a conscious aim of achieving sculptural form in Rodin. In this respect, Rodin stands at the starting point of modern sculpture in terms of both the subject and the way he perceives the body in terms of sculpture.

Rodin's most sensational sculptures, Balzac and Victor Hugo, which he designed nude, shocked the French. Although Rodin finally puts a coat on the Balzac sculpture commissioned by the Literary Union, he divides the French art circles into two. Emile Zola comes first among those who defend Rodin. However, soon after this separation, when the statue's likes and dislikes ceased to be from the artistic arena to the political arena, Rodin gave up on exhibiting his statue. Rodin emphasizes in his correspondence that it is Balzac's favorite work. He describes the work of Kissing, which is loved by everyone, as fun but ordinary.

One of the little-known aspects of Rodin is that he is a great collector of antique art. The artist has a collection of more than six thousand pieces. When he moved from Paris to Meudon in 1893, he began to buy the first pieces. As his financial situation improves, antique works fill the house and workshops. He does not try to buy complete, solid sculptures, preferring broken pieces. Beginning in the 1890s, the subject of fragmented figures always preoccupies him, and he seeks its counterparts in the ancient sculptures he collects. In an exhibition he opened in Paris in 1913, he exhibited for the first time three marbles from the Roman period, together with his own eighteen sculptures and designs.

On January 29, 1917, Rodin finally married Rose Beuret. Sadly, Rose has pneumonia and died on February 14, 16 days after her marriage. In the same year, on November 17, Rodin dies. He is buried next to Rose in the garden of the Villa des Brillants in Meudon.