University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Dictionary of the History of Ideas

Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas
  
  

expand sectionV. 
expand sectionIV. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionII. 
expand sectionIV. 
expand sectionIV. 
expand sectionI. 
expand sectionI. 
expand sectionI. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionI. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionI. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionIV. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionIV. 
expand sectionVII. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionI. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionIII. 
collapse sectionVI. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionI. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionIV. 
expand sectionIV. 
expand sectionIV. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionIV. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionII. 
expand sectionI. 
expand sectionII. 
expand sectionVII. 
expand sectionI. 
expand sectionI. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionVII. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionV. 

4. Sculptural Impressionism. In the very different
art of sculpture, a tendency arose which is somewhat
analogous to impressionist painting. Sculptural im-
pressionism is most highly developed in the work of
Auguste Rodin (Figure 6). As if to ignore and overcome
the inherently static, rigid quality of marble and
bronze, he represented in them the most fluid, melting,
and evanescent of forms, such as clouds and water.
Human or human-like figures in his work seem to be
in the process of breathing, awakening, moving, or
expiring; of being created by the hand of God. Rough,
uneven, deliberately unfinished parts abound in his
statues, as if to show the finished parts emerging from
them. (In this he shows the influence of Michelangelo.)
In portrait sculpture, Rodin's surfaces are sensitive and
expressive, while he often seems to care little for
building a strong inner structure.

In The Age of Bronze (also called The Awakening
of Man
), Rodin expressed his early interest in evolution
and primitive man. Rodin's sculptural style can be
linked with Degas as a kind of visual impressionism.
It relies, not on color, but on surface and solid
shape, together with light reflections, to suggest the
moving, changing aspects of living flesh and human
feeling.