The image of Auguste Rodin in the painting and graphics of his contemporaries

Abstract

The article deals with works of painting and graphics dedicated to Auguste Rodin – a master recognized as one of the creators of modern sculpture. For the whole development of Rodin's career his friends and colleagues, who respected the talent of the master, have created a large number of his portraits, each of which contributed to the formation of the image of one of the most famous sculptors of the late 19th – 20th century. At the present time, there is no generalizing work describing the portraits written by Auguste Rodin, however, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his death, a number of articles (mostly electronic) were published, which deal with the history of the creation of a portrait. It is interesting to consider in aggregate the pictorial and graphic works devoted to Rodin. This will give an opportunity to look at the personality of the great sculptor from a different angle; to make a more complete picture of his character, about the place he occupied in the artistic process of the last two decades of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century, about the development of his world career. Such an analysis will help to trace how the image of the sculptor was interpreted in the painting and graphics of his contemporaries, who make up a multinational audience and occupy different places in the life of Auguste Rodin.