Auguste Rodin (1840)

Rodin was a French sculptor noted for his renderings of the human form. He spent 37 years working on The Gates of Hell, a monumental sculptural group commissioned for a proposed Musée des Arts Décoratifs and inspired by Dante's Inferno. The project was never finished, but many of the 186 figures intended for it, including The Thinker, The Three Shades, and The Kiss, were later presented as individual works. Who was The Thinker intended to represent? More...

Isn't it more natural for the human figures to be clothed? I cannot imagine John the Baptist preaching in the nude!

Full Size Picture Rodin The Shade

I looks to me like The Shade was left out in the sun & melted.

EDIT: Whoa that's a big picture!

I saw his sculptures in the museum and they were very expressive.

The best of Rodin! My fovourite.



The Story Behind Rodin’s ‘The Kiss’

The Kiss was originally conceived as a detail in an early version of Rodin’s The Gates of Hell, a monumental work that preoccupied the artist for the last 37 years of his life. The Kiss depicts the fateful embrace of Francesca and Paolo, adulterous lovers from Dante’s Inferno.

Rodin developed the theme of The Kiss in plaster and terracotta before creating a marble version for the French government in 1888. That piece is now on display at the Musée Rodin in Paris. The version featured in the video was commissioned in 1900 by an American art collector living in England, and is now part of the permanent collection of the Tate Modern in London. It’s currently on loan (through September 2) to the Turner Contemporary in Margate, Kent.

The nudity and frank sensuality of The Kiss drew scorn from many critics when the sculpture was first unveiled in 1889. The poet Paul Claudel, a religious conservative, wrote:

the man is so to speak attablé [sitting down to dine] at the woman. He is sitting down in order to make the most of his opportunity. He uses both his hands, and she does her best, as the Americans say, to “deliver the goods.”

Claudel’s contempt probably had something to do with the fact that his sister, the sculptor Camille Claudel, was Rodin’s lover at the time the work was completed. For a more in-depth exploration of the fascinating story behind The Kiss, be sure to watch the BBC series, Private Life of a Masterpiece. The episode featuring The Kiss can be seen online in four 12-minute segments here.

http://www.openculture.com/2012/02/the_story_behind_rodins_the_kiss.html

As a "young" art student in the 1950's early 1960's, Rodin's work was beyond inspirational. In my early years I even attempted the subtractive method of sculpture but found it to slow for my minds eye and my desire to produce objects. Now, in the winter of my life I spend sometimes 4 months working on one of my art pieces; I must assume those early years were motivated by a youthful impatient spirit, and, of courses, the deadline of class scheduling and there grading systems.

In any case, I must (again) thank this great artist for his inspiration's and for being able to share his abilities with the world; thank you sir, again and again.....