AugAuguste Rodin entered the École Impériale de
Dessin, a government school, at fourteen. Afterwards he was refused
three times at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1864 he met a seamstress
named Rose Beuret and she became a companion for life, the mother of
his only son and the model for many of his works. Rodin did
decorative stonework for Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse and in 1875
travelled to Italy to study the work of Michelangelo. Back in France
he exhibited "The Age of Bronze" at the Salon of 1877. This caused a
scandal, because critics accused Rodin of using a casting of a live
model to reach such a realistic effect.
He continued to shock the academic world with his revolutionary
sculptures and made up his own rules. His "Monument to Balzac" was
scorned at and this caused Rodin a lot of pain. Fortunately there
were admirers as well and in 1900 he was a very famous and well
respected artist, who received many commissions for portraits and
public monuments.
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.
Rodin was involved in several love affairs and he married Rose
Beuret only seventeen days before his death. In 1919 the Hôtel Byron
(Paris) was turned into a Rodin Museum. Another Rodin museum can be
found at Meudon-la-Forêt , where the artist was buried as well.
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