page_title: Paris in the Belle Époque
section_title: Sculpture
hierarchical_section_title: Paris in the Belle Époque / The arts / Sculpture
caption_attribution_description: English: Statue of BALZAC made by RODIN (intersection between Boulevard Raspail and Boulevard du Montparnasse), Paris. Français&#160;: Statue de Balzac par Rodin (intersection entre le boulevard Raspail et le boulevard du Montparnasse), Paris.
context_page_description: Paris in the Belle Époque was a period in the history of the city between the years 1871 to 1914, from the beginning of the Third French Republic until the First World War. It saw the construction of the Eiffel Tower, the Paris Métro, the completion of the Paris Opera, and the beginning of the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur on Montmartre. Three lavish "universal expositions" in 1878, 1889 and 1900 brought millions of visitors to Paris to sample the latest innovations in commerce, art and technology. Paris was the scene of the first public projection of a motion picture, and the birthplace of the Ballets Russes, Impressionism and Modern Art.
  The expression Belle Époque came into use after the First World War; it was a nostalgic term for what seemed a simpler time of optimism, elegance and progress.
context_section_description: The Belle Époque was a golden age for sculptors; the government of the Third Republic commissioned very few monumental buildings, but did commission a large number of statues to French writers, scientists, artists and political figures that soon filled the city's parks and squares. The most prominent sculptor of the period was Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). Born in Paris into a working-class family, he was rejected for entry into the École des Beaux-Arts and rejected by the Paris Salon. He had to struggle for many years to win recognition, supporting himself as a decorator and later as a designer for the Sèvres porcelain factory. He gradually won attention for his design for the Gates of Hell, a museum of decorative art which was never built; its plan included what became his most famous work, The Thinker. He was commissioned by the city of Calais to make a monument, The Burghers of Calais (1884), to commemorate an event that took place in that city in 1347, during the Hundred Years' War. He was also commissioned to create a Monument to Balzac (now on the Boulevard Raspail), which caused a scandal and made him a celebrity. Rodin's work was exhibited near the 1900 Exposition, which won him many foreign clients. In 1908, he moved from Meudon to Paris, renting the ground floor of a private mansion in the 7th arrondissement, the Hôtel Biron, now the Musée Rodin. By the time of his death, he was the most famous sculptor in France, perhaps in the world.
  Other more traditional sculptors whose work won acclaim in Paris during the Belle Époque included Jules Dalou, Antoine Bourdelle (also a former assistant of Rodin), and Aristide Maillol. Their works decorated theaters, parks, and were featured at the International Expositions. The more avant-garde artists organized themselves into the Société des Artistes Indépendants. They held annual Salons that helped set the course of modern art. At the turn of the century, Paris attracted sculptors from around the world. Constantin Brâncuși (1876-1957) moved from Bucharest to Munich to Paris, where he was admitted, in 1905, to the École des Beaux-Arts. He worked for two months in the workshop of Rodin, but left, declaring that "Nothing grows under big trees", and went in his own direction into modernism. Brâncuși won fame at the 1913 "Salon des indépendants" and became one of the pioneers of modern sculpture.
caption: Monument to Balzac, by Auguste Rodin, on the Boulevard Raspail (1890)
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