François Auguste René Rodin or more famously known simply as Auguste Rodin, was a French Impressionist sculptor. He likened his work to that of painters as he believed their ideas about light and shade worked well and tried to demonstrate this in his early work.
When he entered a figure L’Age d’airain at the Paris Salon in 1879 he was greatly criticised. He was accused of taking the cast of the man from a living person.
In time, Frenchmen came to see they had in their midst one of the most powerful and exciting sculptors of all time, and they opened a museum to house his work.
One of the most famous Rodin sculptor pieces was his statue to the novelist Balzac which he unveiled in 1898. It was commissioned by the Société des Gens de Lettres to be a memorial of a giant of literature. It was a giant sculptor piece which was rejected by the Société which earned Rodin a great deal of insult.
However, it has since come to be accepted as one of the most astonishing portraits in Europe.