Auguste Rodin

Nineteenth century French sculptor. Rodin stands at the culmination of the figurative tradition in sculpture, and after him sculptors increasingly turned towards abstraction?. However, some of his works like "the thinker" and "the kiss" remain among the most immediately recognible sculptures in the western artistic tradition. Ironically, neither was ever intended to be a major work - both were expanded details of Rodin's great unfinished work, a great set of cathedral doors.