Auguste Rodin, the most famous and influential sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is also widely considered to be the successor to Michelangelo, whose genius was a lifelong inspiration to him. Though the astonishingly lifelike quality of his sculpture was in defiance of current academic conventions, Rodin was spared the prolonged and bitter hostility meted out to the Impressionists who were his contemporaries, and in later life he became a famous and widely respected figure.

Bernard Champigneulle discusses Rodin's great significance as an innovator in sculpture. For Rodin created an entirely new form -- the detail considered as finished work -- and in doing so exercised a lasting influence on future sculptors, who were profoundly affected by his emotional expressiveness, his power of characterization, and his subtle modeling. This authoritative monograph combines a searching reappraisal of Rodin's achievement with revealing account of his personality and his troubled private life.