Auguste Rodin by Rainer Maria Rilke on Free Audio Book Download

Rodin has pronounced Rilke's essay the supreme interpretation of his work. (From the translatorsвЂ™ Preface) Auguste Rodin, 1840-1917, was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past. He was schooled traditionally, took a craftsman-like approach to his work, and desired academic recognition, although he was never accepted into Paris's foremost school of art. Sculpturally, Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, deeply pocketed surface in clay. вЂ¦ RodinвЂ¦ modeled the human body with realism, and celebrated individual character and physicality. From the unexpected realism of his first major figureвЂ¦ to the unconventional memorials whose commissions he later sought, Rodin's reputation grew, such that he became the preeminent French sculptor of his time. By 1900, he was a world-renowned artist. Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist, "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets", writing in both verse and highly lyrical prose. Several critics have described Rilke's work as inherently "mystical"вЂ¦. [RilkeвЂ™s] encounter with modernism was very stimulating: Rilke became deeply involved in the sculpture of Rodin, and then with the work of Paul CГ©zanne. For a time he acted as Rodin's secretary, also lecturing and writing a long essay on Rodin and his work. Rodin taught him the value of objective observationвЂ¦