Both Rodin and Michelangelo took interest in the human body.

Rodin put a lot of emphasis on the the expression and feeling that the sculptures portrayed  particularly in the nude which he is quoted to say, “The form and the attitude of a human being reveals the emotions of its soul. The body always expresses the spirit whose envelope it is. And for [he] who can see, the nude offers the richest meaning.” He also use the medium to his advantage to create or recreate a scene to a story or evoke strong feelings.

The Thinker posed to evoke deep thought and contemplation and depending on the angle you look at the statue, like in the picture, you can even say that the Thinker has come to an epiphany or is in the process if such. The statue isn’t in a relaxed posture but in a more rigid, dynamic pose that illicits action.

Fallen Caryatid Carrying an Urn shows the scrunched up body weighed down by the Urn which also shows how much a person could be crushed by the burdens they carry.

Michelangelo on the other hand focused more on the idealized human body and image

The sculptor of the Young Archer depicts a child whose body is fit and muscular, not a body you would imagine on a child, however it would fit the occupation of an archer. The statue is shown in a free and open expression that does not shy away from showing off his body.

The statue of David is the image of an idealized man.  The limbs, hips are counterbalanced to depict a naturalistic and humane stance to the subject. The posture is known as Contropposto which was originally observed in the sculpture, The Spear Bearer by Polykleitos also known as the Canon or the ideal model that others should study and copy. The subject David is shown to have an athletic build with intricate details to anatomy.

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.

After looking at both Rodin’s and Michelangelo’s sculptures, I noticed that many times Rodin focused on depicting a specific idea but not the details of the sculpture. For example, in “The Thinker” (https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/es/web-large/DP-13618-012.jpg), Rodin captures well the pose and the atmosphere of a thinker, but he does not focus on the intricacies of the face, hair etc.

In contrast, it seemed to me that Michelangelo focused more on his actual sculpture and not the idea he is trying to present. He took great care to depict every detail of the human; such as the curls of the hair, the folds of the skin etc. His statues almost seem lifelike like the statue of the sleeping Eros ( metmuseum.org/…h/images/hb/hb_43.11.4.jpg).  In conclusion, initially when I saw both artists’ work I thought they were essentially the same, but  when I studied them more carefully, these differences became apparent to me.

As we walked the halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it became very clear to me that I knew nothing about art. If I’m being completely honest, at first glance I couldn’t tell the difference between the Rodin and Michelangelo sculptures beyond the room they were in and that they were both beautiful. However, when I looked closely enough, I saw that it was these subtle differences that made them so unique. Specifically, with both artist’s portrayal of Adam, it is apparent to see Michelangelo’s influence in Rodin’s art as both depictions share similar physical characteristics. These include the striking male physique that was created by Michelangelo and carried on by Rodin as well as the curly hair and similar bone structure in the face. Although Michelangelo’s fresco is painted, and Rodin’s Adam is a statue made of marble, even someone as unskilled as me can note these similarities.  The most striking similarity is both Adam’s hands. Each hand is carefully crafted in the same pointing position. Michelangelo’s is toward God, while Rodin’s is to the ground. This is significant because it made me look more closely at the expressions on each of the Adams. Michelangelo’s Adam is curious and inquisitive, reaching toward God. On the other hand, Rodin’s Adam is anguished and appears to be in pain. Perhaps his reaching to the ground is after God punished him and kicked him out of Eden. This would explain Rodin’s portrayal of Adam’s misery in contrast with Michelangelo’s curiosity for life and God.

Both Rodin and Michelangelo’s sculptures have characteristics that make them similar, yet extremely unique. What was unique about Rodin’s sculptures was the thematic element to his work. For example, he has one collection of sculptures titled, The Gates of Hell. These sculptures had more of a narrative theme to it, with the body language and facial cues of the sculptures capturing the Hell Rodin was trying to communicate. There was also a sculpture telling the mythological story of Eurydice and Orpheus, highlighting the narrative quality present in some of Rodin’s sculptures. In other sculptures, however, Rodin is less narrative and focuses on the human form. For instance, one of his sculptures was simply a very detailed human hand. This focus on human form is similar to Michelangelo’s sculptures, that often lacked a narrative quality and let the detail and human form or head bust speak for itself. Similarly to Michelangelo and Rodin’s sculptures, Mapplethorpe’s nude photography greatly focuses on the detail of the human form rather than narration. Mapplethorpe’s photography almost seems like a sculpture, especially in his photographs of nude men, as the lighting and camera work shows a great attention to the muscular detail of the human form seen in many traditional sculptures. The picture below is a great example of how Mapplethorpe’s work focuses on the human form as leaves out the head and only focuses on the body of the man posing for the photo, similar to many sculptures that omit the face to focus on the body.

While at the MET museum, I found both Rodin and Michelangelo’s work extremely captivating and unique to their respectful creators.

Within Rodin’s sculptures, I noticed there was a somber aspect connected to the works of art and it looked as if many of the characters depicted were suffering in one way or the other. I also noticed many of them were bent in a way that was covering themselves and or protecting their bodies.

In contrast, within MichealAngelo’s sculptures, I saw many of them portrayed liberally and gracefully. For example, this marble sculpture reminds me of an angel ready to soar and be free.

This sculpture by Angelo is depicted in a way in which the man is flaunting himself and is proudly posing for the viewer. His face is calm and relaxed and this piece of work had an overall serene feeling associated with it.

In opposition,  this  marble sculpture by Rodin, portrays a woman sitting in a lonesome manner as she turns her head away from something or someone. She doesn’t look like she is going anywhere and looks as if she is almost ashamed of something.

I found this particular sculpture of Rodin’s interesting as the woman bows and surrenders herself and body to the man who is only gently bowing his head, yet is holding her with a firm grip. Its almost as if he’s consuming her, as her body merges within his, and we see more of his body as opposed to hers.Thus I sense a patriarchal dominance within Rodin’s sculptures depicting the man and woman.

One of Michelangelo’s paintings that stood out to me was The Battle of Cascina, primarily because it didn’t seem like a battle that I was expecting.

I associate battles with weapons and soldiers with armor, not this dramatic scene with naked men going after one another. However, this highlights a greater battle, which is the fight between the individual man. Strip away, the weapons, the heavy armor, and cannons, what is there really left? Men fighting one another to the death. Thus, I think this painting portrays a battle scene at its most raw and real form.It was a daring task on MichealAngelo’s part, but nonetheless served to make a very loud statement centuries later and up to today.

One of Auguste Rodin’s most notable work, The Thinker, stood out to me as I first walked into the Robin exhibit. This bronze sculpture shows a male figure resting his head on his right hand and appears to be lost in a deep thought.

The title, The Thinker, reminded me of John Locke and the Enlightenment movement. The philosophical movement emphasized on reasoning, which allowed for explanation of many ideas in subjects such as science, law, and politics. This made me wonder if Rodin was in any way influenced by Locke as Rodin’s sculpture showed the core values (thinking deeply and critically) during the Enlightenment movement.  And if he was, what is the figure in the sculpture thinking about? That was the thought that came from the male figure’s body language.

Similarly, the body language of one of the figure in Robert Mapplethorpe’s “Male Nudes”, showed an isolated and closed feeling. The male figure is curled up and with his head faced down. This conveys a sense of loneliness and that the figure is avoiding others, trapped inside his own world. However, in his world, he could also be in deep thinking and contemplating over his life, with a bunch of overwhelming emotions that may be difficult to describe.

 (This is one of the very few photos I’ve taken in the Michelangelo exhibit that I have found interesting, mainly because the place felt like a church. While admiring the piece, the only question that I had was about the names under each figure who are sitting down. “Who are they and why are they important?”)