The Modernism Of French Sculptor Auguste Rodin's Art

French sculptor Auguste Rodin was born in Paris in 1840. Rodin is considered the forerunner of modern sculpting; however, he was trained in traditional art styles, and never set out to become a prominent modern sculptor. There has been much debate on the modernism of Rodin’s art. While painting was becoming a more modern art, sculpting was lagging behind; however, Rodin was one of the only sculptors who was considered to be intriguing. In 1875, Rodin traveled to Italy in order to examine closely the work of Michelangelo. The work of Michelangelo would have a large impact on the works that Rodin would produce after 1875; one of the first and most notable works for Rodin was The Age of Bronze. Rodin was able to be a catalyst for modernizing sculpting

In an article that takes a look at the modernism of Rodin’s work, it is stated that, “Some saw the Age of Bronze as merely one more academic nude, and his subsequent exploration of the expressivity of the human form has been dismissed as little more than pandering to melodrama and sentiment… literature on the sculptor caricatured nineteenth-century sculpture as a wasteland in which Rodin was the solitary oasis, and he was often held up as the only sculptor of any interest comparable to the rapid advances of modern painting” (Getsy 132). Rodin’s work was not interesting simply because he was the only “interesting” sculptor; Rodin’s work was interesting because he had modernized and turned to a new direction. When Rodin created The Age of Bronze in 1876, many critized him for “cheating” by casting his sculpture from a live model; however, after more research and Rodin himself providing evidence of his model, it was clear that this sculpture was in fact not cast from a live model. In order to achieve this level of modernism Rodin had to cast aside all the traditional styles and ideas that had been used in sculpting. This is shown in the article when the author states that Rodin, “Employed and adapted a sophisticated and subtle formal language of the sculptural body.

There are many that will argue that he did not start the movement towards modern sculpting; however, Rodin had to do something in order to provoke the thoughts of his work being considered “different”. The Age of Bronze was one of the first pieces of work to really garner attention for being different. I believe that Rodin’s new approach to his work was the reason for any kind of discussion of sculpting moving into the modern scene. In the article examining the connection between Rodin and Michelangelo, the author states that in regards to Rodin’s new style and approach, “ I see this as Rodin’s attempt to leave behind his academic training…and to adopt an altogether different approach by which to study Michelangelo” (Sachs 35). The combination of Rodin abandoning his old styles and his interest in learning the secrets of Michelangelo are what lead to the foundation of modern sculpting being created. The arguments against the modernization of Rodin’s work can be refuted by the argument that Rodin took sculpting into a new direction; he changed the way sculpting was being done and he affected the way sculpting was done from there on after. It wasn’t just one piece of work from Rodin that moved sculpting into the modern era, but it was the style that he turned to