Auguste Rodin
1840–1917 · sculptor · France
Arts and ideas35 years old in 1875
François Auguste René Rodin was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, and deeply pocketed surface in clay. He is known for such sculptures as The Thinker, Monument to Balzac, The Kiss, The Burghers of Calais, and The Gates of Hell.
Read more on WikipediaThe world around them · Paris, 1870s
- Who governs
- The Third Republic is new and fragile. Monarchists hold a majority in parliament until 1877.
- Everyday life
- Most French people still live in the countryside. Paris is being rebuilt along Haussmann's wide boulevards.
- Arts and ideas
- The Impressionists show outside the official Salon, and Zola is writing his Rougon-Macquart novels.
- Meanwhile
- Germany has just united under Prussia, and Japan is racing to modernise.
Their life in their time
- 1840
- 18488 years old
- 185212 years old
- 185212 years oldCézanne and Zola meet at school
- 187030 years old
- 187434 years oldThe first Impressionist exhibition
- 187535 years oldCarmen opens at the Opéra-Comique
- 188646 years oldZola publishes L'Œuvre
- 191777 years oldDies
Connected to
- VH
Victor Hugo · sculptor and subject
1889 Rodin was commissioned in 1889 to make a monument to Victor Hugo, four years after the writer's death.
Source: wikipedia:Auguste_Rodin - ÉZ
Émile Zola · a commission
1891 As the newly elected president of the French writers' society, Zola strongly supported Rodin for its monument to Balzac.
Source: wikipedia:Monument_to_Balzac
