Research Guides: Art on the Davidson College Campus: Featured Sculptors and Artists: Auguste Rodin

About Auguste Rodin

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was a French sculptor, known for his "innovative practices that paved the way for modern sculpture," according to the Rodin Museum of Philadelphia, PA. His works, rooted in nature and the human form, express vivid internal conditions and intense emotion. Evocative and dramatic, his rebellious and sometimes controversial sculptures often highlight his artistic process in making the works as well as an exploration of the "inner truths of the human psyche."

For more information about Auguste Rodin, please see the following:

Jean d'Aire

Rodin, Auguste. Burghers of Calais, Jean d'Aire nu. Bronze lost-wax cast 1984 by the Musée Rodin. Davidson College. Photograph by Chris Record.

Article on Jean D'aire

Works by Auguste Rodin

National Gallery of Art
Selected works and bio of Rodin from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Museum of Modern Art
Bio, images, exhibitions, and publications on Rodin and his works from MoMA in New York.
Art Institute of Chicago
Selected works by Rodin and related artists from the Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois.
Google Arts and Culture
Over 390 images of Rodin's work from Google Arts and Culture, with links to online exhibits and stories of his work.
Musée Rodin
Works of Rodin and related collections from the Musée Rodin in Paris, France.
Rodin Museum
Image gallery and information on the exhibition Rodin's Hands at the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, PA.
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Images and other resources on Rodin's work from the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Pennsylvania.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Collection of Rodin's work, as well as videos and articles on his artistic process, from the V&A in London, England.

Articles about Auguste Rodin

The Originality of the Avant-Garde: A Postmodernist Repetition
Journal article on Rodin's installation "The Gates of Hell" at the National Gallery by Rosalind Krauss from October in 1981.
Sincerely Yours: A Reply
Journal article on the installation of "Rodin Rediscovered" at the National Gallery by Rosalind Krauss in October from 1982.
Auguste Rodin's The Burghers of Calais : The Career of a Sculpture and its Appeal to Civic Heroism
Journal article on Rodin's "The Burghers of Calais" by Richard Swedberg from Theory, Culture & Society in 2005.
Two Insights on Auguste Rodin's The Thinker
Article focusing on Rodin's "The Thinker" sculpture by François Blanchetière and David Thurrowgood from the National Gallery of Victoria in 2014.
The Stubborn Genius of Auguste Rodin
Article on the life and sculptures of Rodin, particularly his bronze work, by Peter Schjeldahl in The New Yorker in 2017.
10 Things You Might Not Have Known About Rodin
Blog post on the life and work of Rodin from the British Museum in 2017.
21 Facts About Auguste Rodin
Information on Rodin's work and relationships by Eva Sarah Molcard from Sotheby's in 2018.
Hand Dance: Auguste Rodin's Drawings of the Cambodian Royal Ballet
Article on Rodin's 150+ drawings of the Cambodian Royal Ballet troupe brought by colonizing King Sisowath in 1906, written by Juliet Bellow in The Art Bulletin from 2019 (PDF, Jstor, and paper versions available through the Davidson library).
The Making of Rodin Review – Not a Radical, Just a Plain Old Genius
Review of the Making of Rodin exhibition at the Tate Modern by Jonathan Jones in The Guardian in 2021.
Auguste Rodin, The Age of Bronze
Article on Rodin's pivotal exhibition The Age of Bronze in 1877, by Dr. Anna Tahinci from Smarthistory in 2022 (more related articles on left hand panel).
Auguste Rodin: The Father of Modern Sculpture
Guide to Rodin's renowned career from Christie's in 2023.

Books about Auguste Rodin

Rodin: the Shape of Genius by Ruth Butler
Biography intending to disentangle the facts and myths surrounding Rodin, utilizing archives and letters to provide new interpretations on his creative process and motivations, published in 1993.
Rodin's Art: The Rodin Collection of the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University by Albert Edward Elsen, Rosalyn Frankel Jamison, and Bernard Barryte
Reference/catalogue discussing author Dr. Elsen's thoughts on Rodin's career and collection, with a series of essays on Rodin's work, reception, and casting process, published in 2003.
Auguste Rodin: Drawings & Watercolors by Antionette Le Normand-Romain and Christina Buley-Uribe
Book analyzing Rodin's drawings and watercolors from the Musée Rodin collection, published in 2006.
Rodin by Antionette Le Normand-Romain
Over 350 pictures of works by the so-called "father of modern sculpture," published in 2014.

Exhibition Catalogs from Auguste Rodin

Catalogue of an Exhibition of Sculpture and Drawings by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) : July-August, 1931, Ernest Brown & Phillips.
Catalog of Rodin's exhibition through Ernest Brown & Phillips in London in 1931.
Rodin: Sculpture and Drawings
Catalog of an exhibition of Rodin's work, organized by the Arts Council of Great Britain and the Association Française d'Action Artistique and held from January 24-April 5 at the Hayward Gallery in London in 1970.
Rodin: Sculpture and Drawings
Catalog of Rodin's drawings from the National Gallery of Australia, McClelland Gallery, and Singapore Art Museum in 2001.
The Bronzes of Rodin: Catalogue of Works in the Musée Rodin
Catalog of Rodin's works from the collection of the Musée Rodin in Paris in 2007.
Rodin and Dance: The Essence of Movement
Catalog of Rodin's sculpture series entitled "Dance Movements" from the Courtauld Gallery in London and the Musée Rodin in Paris in 2016.
The EY Exhibition: The Making of Rodin
Catalog of Rodin's sculptures from the Tate in London in 2021.

Videos about Auguste Rodin

Auguste Rodin - Challenging Beauty video detailing six of Rodin's classically-inspired sculptures from the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2020.

Rodin, The Gates of Hell on Rodin's plaster doors now featured at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris from Smarthistory in 2016.

Auguste Rodin: The Artist's Hand exhibition lecture from curator of education Glenna Barlow at the Columbia Museum of Art in 2022.

The Thinker by Rodin video discussing Rodin's works, including "The Thinker", and artistic techniques from Great Art Explained in 2020.

Recasting Rodin with Patrick Robert Crowley explaining Rodin's process as part of the learning guides from the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University in 2020 (other videos and resources also available).

Auguste Rodin - The Kiss describing the history and changing reception of Rodin's "The Kiss" by Tate Modern in 2018.