Rodin

At his death, Rodin was the most famous artist in the western world but the critical reception of his works was far from positive. As a sculptor making public works, Rodin was exposed to public criticism. The modernity of his works was ridiculed by critics. Even his famous Thinker and his Balzac attracted scorn and, in the case of the Thinker, physical violence. The explicit sexuality of Rodin's sculpture was often seen as scandalous but contemporary taste was tolerant of the erotic as long as it represented the female form. Nude women were ubiquitous in nineteenth-century art. Rodin's Balzac sexualized the male form; critical anger did not focus directly on its phallic nature, but saw the sculpture as incomprehensible. Rodin's career marks the transition from the public role of the nineteenth-century sculptor to the more private consumption of modern art.

© 1998-2008 The Roland Collection & Pira Intl.