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The
Thinker (1880)
Auguste
Rodin (1840-1917)
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The French artist Auguste Rodin had a profound
influence on 20th-century sculpture. His works are
distinguished by their stunning strength and
realism. Rodin refused to ignore the negative
aspects of humanity, and his works confront
distress and moral weakness as well as passion and
beauty. He was born on Nov. 12, 1840, in
Paris. At the age of 14 he entered the Petite
Ecole, a school of decorative arts in Paris. He
applied three times to study at the renowned Ecole
des Beaux-Arts but was rejected each time. In 1858
he began to do decorative stonework in order to
make his living. Four years later the death of his
sister Marie so traumatized Rodin that he entered a
sacred order. The father superior of the order
recognized Rodin's talents and encouraged him to
pursue his art. In 1864 Rodin met a seamstress
named Rose Beuret. She became his life companion
and was the model for many of his works. That year
Rodin submitted his Man with a Broken Nose to the
Paris Salon. It was rejected but later accepted
under the title Portrait of a Roman. Rodin traveled
in 1875 to Italy, where the works of Michelangelo
made a strong impression on him. The trip inspired
his sculpture The Age of Bronze, which was
exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1877. It caused a
scandal because the critics could not believe that
Rodin had not used a casting of a live model in
creating so realistic a work.
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