オーギュスト・ロダン

Auguste Rodin founded modern sculpture by refusing to follow the rules. Born in Paris in 1840 to a working-class family, he was rejected three times by the École des Beaux-Arts and spent decades as a craftsman and decorator, largely teaching himself. After a transformative 1875 trip to Italy, where he encountered Donatello and Michelangelo, Rodin began making naturalistic sculptures that scandalized the art world—his *Age of Bronze* was so lifelike that critics accused him of casting from live models.