French sculptor. Born in Paris, Rodin enrolled at the École Impériale de Dessin, a government school for craft and design, but was unable to gain admittance to the prestigious and conservative École des Beaux-Arts, which rejected him three times. Rodin's most original work departed from traditional themes of mythology and allegory, modeled the human body with high realism, and celebrated individual character and physicality. Instead of copying traditional academic postures, Rodin preferred to work with amateur models, street performers, acrobats, strong men and dancers.