SCHOLAR SERIES, National Gallery of Victoria

Why is Auguste Rodin regarded as one of the greatest sculptors of the modern era, and the founder of modern sculpture?

Edgar Degas famously asked Rodin why his sculpture of Walking man (L’Homme qui marche, moyen modèle) had no arms, to which Rodin replied: “Because a man walks on his feet.” In the simplicity of his answer, Rodin conveyed his interest lay in human gestures, the essence of movement, not the perfection of form.

As part of the NGV’s Scholars Series, curator, author and leading Rodin specialist Jane Messenger discusses the significance of this sculpture within the context of Rodin’s oeuvre and position in history.

Considered one of Rodin’s most important contributions to art history, his non-finito (unfinished) works such as Walking Man challenged conventional notions of sculpture because he dared to present the human form as incomplete. Walking Man introduced radical notions of sculptural truncation and assembly into the modern artistic canon. Rodin also believed in the indivisibility of mind and body, how form could express emotions and the essence of humanity.