The Walking Man

"The Walking Man" ("L'homme qui marche" in French) is a famous sculpture by the world-renowned French sculptor Auguste Rodin. The medium is bronze. It was created by Rodin during 1877 and 1878.

The best example of Rodin’s ‘sketchy’, impressionist sculpture also happens to be his most well-known ‘incomplete’ figure. This work personifies the latter part of Rodin’s career: the dynamic pose of a partial figure. Deriving much from Rodin’s earlier work "St. John the Baptist Preaching", including the powerful stance, Rodin had stripped all academic associations from his figure, and instead focused on what he considered essential: the dynamic pose.

Noted art historian Leo Steinberg said of "The Walking Man"’s pose:

The stance is profoundly unclassical, especially in the digging-in conveyed by the pigeon-toed stride and the rotation of the upper torso. Unlike the balanced, self-possessed classical posture with both feet turned out, Rodin uses the kind of step that brings all power to bear on the moment’s work

External links

* [http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/eurptg/citi/object?id=69852&collcatid=10 Sculpture details] from Art Institute of Chicago