Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin, known as Auguste Rodin, was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past. He was schooled traditionally, took a craftsman-like approach to his work, and desired academic recognition, although he was never accepted into Paris's foremost school of art...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionSculptor
Date of Birth12 November 1840
CityParis, France
CountryFrance
If the artist succeeds in producing the impression of a movement which takes several moments for accomplishment, his work is certainly much less conventional than the scientific image, where time is abruptly suspended.
To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature
If the artist only reproduces superficial features as photography does, if he copies the lineaments of a face exactly, without reference to character, he deserves no admiration. The resemblance which he ought to obtain is that of the soul.
The artist is the confidant of nature, flowers carry on dialogues with him through the graceful bending of their stems and the harmoniously tinted nuances of their blossoms, Every flower has a cordial word which nature directs towards him.
He who is discouraged after a failure is not a real artist.
The artist enriches the soul of humanity. The artist delights people with a thousand different shades of feeling.
The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live. Be a man before being an artist!
In front of the model I work with the same will to reproduce truth as if I were making a portrait. I do not correct nature, I incorporate myself into it; it directs me. I can only work with a model. The sight of human forms nourishes and comforts me.
How painful it is to find that my figure can be of no help to my future... how painful to see it rejected on account of a slanderous suspicion!
The delicate droop of the petals standing out in relief, is like the eyelid of a child.
Genius only comes to those who know how to use their eyes and their intelligence.
Recently I have taken to isolating limbs, the torso. Why am I blamed for it? Why is the head allowed and not portions of the body? Every part of the human figure is expressive.
The only principle in art is to copy what you see. Dealers in aesthetics to the contrary, every other method is fatal.
Nobody does good to men with impunity.