Rodin and Michelangelo were both fantastic sculptors who had different styles.

Rodin’s sculptures are all very focussed on the human body. The sculptures often feature very prominent and detailed muscles. He also creates sculptures of the human body contorting in magnificent positions.  For example, one of the sculptures featured in the Rodin exhibit was an extremely detailed hand. In this sculpture Rodin focusses on the form of the hand and how all of its muscles work to form an interesting position.  Another example of Rodin’s focus on shapes formed by the body is “Fallen Caryatid Carrying an Urn”. While this sculpture does not focus on each muscle like the hand does, it does show how the human body can move to form intricate and interesting shapes.    Another prime example of Rodin’s love of the human form is in his sculpture of the entire body of a man. The sculptures show his large shoulder, abdominal, thigh and arm muscles. 

 

Mapplethorpe’s photographs of the male body are similar to Rodin’s sculptures. Like Rodin, he highlights every detail of the muscles and the shapes they can take, often not even including the models’ faces. Such is the case in this photo,  . Mapplethorpe does not include his subject’s face, but rather shows every line and detail formed by the model flexing his muscles. Like the Rodin, there is an emphasis on the shoulder, abdominal, and thigh muscles.

Contrastingly, Michelangelo’s sculptures focussed more on the details of the human face and hair. For example, in his sculpture of a young angel, Michelangelo puts the most detail into the angel’s curly hair.  He also puts so much work into making the angel’s face conventionally beautiful. In some of his works not displayed at the Met, Michelangelo synthesizes his attention to the faces and an attention to bodies, just like in Michelangelo’s David, displayed at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence. In this sculpture, Michelangelo gives immense attention to the beauty of the face and hair, but also includes a lot of details in the muscles. Additionally, the statue is massive (17 ft tall) and completely detailed and beautiful throughout.