Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) was a French sculptor whose innovative approach to form fundamentally transformed modern sculpture. Rodin's practice centered on the expressive potential of the human body, particularly hands, which he explored through bronze casting and plaster modeling. His hands function as independent studies and as integral components of larger figural works, created through observation, repetition, and formal experimentation. Rodin conceived hands as vessels of emotion—clenched in rage, extended in blessing, clasped in intimacy—and his late works, often severed at the wrist, operate as abstract meditations on creation and humanity.
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Barbara Hepworth (1903–1975) was a British sculptor whose work shares Rodin's formal interest in hands and the expressive potential of gesture. Hepworth developed an abstract sculptural language emphasizing organic forms, void, and the relationship between positive and negative space. Her practice, spanning stone carving, bronze casting, and large-scale installation, engaged with the hand as both subject and tool—a means of shaping material and conveying human presence and connection within abstract compositions.
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