How did Auguste Rodin influence later sculptors such as Antoine Bourdelle and Charles Despiau?

Auguste Rodin exerted a profound influence on 20th-century sculpture, serving as a mentor to many artists who worked in his studio and adopted his techniques before developing their own distinct styles.12

Antoine Bourdelle

Bourdelle entered Rodin’s studio in 1893 and considered him a chief artistic influence. Early in his career, Bourdelle emulated Rodin’s rugged realism and brutal quality, as seen in his 1902 war memorial. While Bourdelle eventually moved toward a more refined, Classical aesthetic, he continued to draw from Rodin’s example; for instance, his famous Herakles Archer (1910) attempted to continue the active, sinuous postures characteristic of Rodin’s work.32

Charles Despiau

Despiau worked as an assistant in Rodin’s shop from 1907 to 1914, where he honed his technical skills. Although he was deeply influenced by the Rodin tradition, Despiau eventually rejected his mentor's intense Romanticism in favor of a return to a simpler, Classical style. His work, such as Girl from the Landes (1904), successfully balanced individual traits—a hallmark of the Rodin tradition—with the graceful, well-rounded forms that defined his own mature aesthetic.24