Today Auguste Rodin would have celebrated his 172th Birthday. If you are wondering who Auguste Rodin were you are not alone, when I opened the Google homepage this morning I had no idea who the guy is sitting on a stone or tree in the doodle.
It were only once I hovered over the Doodle that I saw that it is about Auguste Rodin, which still did not really give me a clue who this man sitting on the stone were, or why it is important that Google celebrates his birthday. However this is one of the things I love most when Google have a doodle about someone we should know about but many times don’t.
“Auguste Rodin” was a French Sculptor born on the 12th of November 1840 and passed away on the 17th of November 1917. Many people in the art industry consider him the progenitor of modern sculpture, although he did not set out to rebel against the past.
He wanted to study arts at what many consider to be the best school of arts in Paris, however he was never allowed to study at the school. In his time he did however become one of the most well known sculptors in France and in the 1900 world renowned for his work.
Auguste Rodin Sculptures
In his time Auguste Rodin created several sculptures, in the Google Doodle of 12 November 2012 Google featured one of his works in the doodle. The man sitting on the stone is a sculpture that he created called “The Thinker”
The Thinker is a bronze and marble sculpture by Auguste Rodin, whose first cast, of 1902, is now in the Musée Rodin in Paris; there are some 20 other original castings, as well as various other versions, studies, and posthumous castings.
It depicts a man in sober meditation battling with a powerful internal struggle. It is often used to represent philosophy. – Source by Wikipedia
Instead of copying traditional academic postures, Auguste Rodin preferred his models to move naturally around his studio (despite their nakedness). The sculptor often made quick sketches in clay that were later fine-tuned, cast in plaster, and forged into bronze or carved in marble.
Auguste Rodin Sculptures in America
At fist Auguste Rodin struggled to find an audience for his work in USA, one of the reasons being that his art were very provocative and featured nakedness. Fortunately, he came to know Sarah Tyson Hallowell (1846–1924), a curator from Chicago who visited Paris to arrange exhibitions at the large Interstate Expositions of the 1870s and 1880s, she helped to create a market for Auguste Rodin’s work in the USA where he eventually became just as popular.
