Selections from the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Collections
Auguste Rodin, Despairing Adolescent, edition 3/12. Modeled 1882/Musée Rodin cast in 1975 by Godard Foundry. Bronze. 17 1/2 x 6 x 5 3/4 inches. Lent by Iris Cantor.
November 1, 2020 – April 4, 2021
Located on the first floor
Rodin: Truth Form Life showcases Auguste Rodin’s (1840-1917) revolutionary contributions to the development of modern sculpture. Dissatisfied with 19th-century academic traditions that dictated what was considered beautiful and appropriate in art, Rodin used sculpture to convey the vitality of the human spirit. He rejected the smoothly finished surfaces, classical proportions and moralizing themes popular in the salons and academic studios of his day. Instead, he made vigorously modeled works that emphasized his personal response to the subject matter, and he invented new poses and gestures to convey movement and mood. Rather than depicting people as idealized types, he sought to depict their individual states of mind.
Rodin’s public monuments, likewise, radically departed from convention, trading blandly heroic likenesses for intense psychological portraits. He was also one of the first artists to insist that a fragmented form, especially a part of the human body such as a hand, could be regarded as a completed artwork in its own right, possessing an expressive power equal to that of a figure that is wholly represented. These innovations reflected Rodin’s passionate belief that art must be true to nature, even if it defies established expectations and ideals.
This exhibition, organized and made possible by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, presents 22 of Rodin’s bronze sculptures, which were modeled between 1860 and 1910. The works on view include sculptures associated with some of Rodin’s most important public commissions, such as The Burghers of Calais and The Gates of Hell, as well as busts and preparations for famous monuments to two French authors, Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac.
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Selected Works
Auguste Rodin, Heroic Bust of Victor Hugo, edition 7/12. Modeled 1890-97 or 1901-02/Musée Rodin cast in 1981 by Coubertin Foundry. Bronze. 29 1/4 x 23 1/2 x 21 1/4 inches. Lent by Iris Cantor.
Auguste Rodin, Large Hand of a Pianist, edition 9/12. Modeled 1885/Musée Rodin cast in 1969 by Georges Rudier Foundry. Bronze. 7 1/4 x 10 x 4 7/8 in. Lent by Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.
Auguste Rodin, Balzac in Dominican Robe, edition 9/unknown. Modeled 1893/Musée Rodin cast in 1981 by Georges Rudier Foundry. Bronze. 41 3/4 x 20 1/8 x 20 inches. Lent by Iris Cantor.
Auguste Rodin, Study for Torso of the Walking Man, edition 10/12. Modeled 1878-79/Musée Rodin cast in 1979 by Coubertin Foundry. Bronze. 20 1/2 x 10 3/4 x 8 inches. Lent by Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.
Auguste Rodin, Head of Shade with Two Hands, edition 2/unknown. Modeled ca. 1910/cast date unknown; cast by Alexis Rudier Foundry. Bronze. 7 5/8 x 10 3/4 x 8 1/8 inches. Lent by Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.
Auguste Rodin, Hand of God, edition unknown. Modeled in 1898/cast date unknown; cast by Alexis Rudier Foundry. Bronze. 7 5/8 x 10 3/4 x 8 1/8 inches. Lent by Iris Cantor.
Auguste Rodin, Ixelles Idyll, edition 4/8. Modeled in plaster ca. 1876 and first cast in bronze in 1885/Musée Rodin cast in 1981 by Coubertin Foundry. Bronze. 21 x 14 5/8 x 14 5/8 inches. Lent by Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.
Auguste Rodin, Final Head of Eustache de St. Pierre, edition 2/4. Modeled ca. 1886/Musée Rodin cast in 1995 by Godard Foundry. Bronze. 16 1/4 x 9 5/8 x 11 1/2 inches. Lent by Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.
Auguste Rodin, Large Clenched Left Hand, edition 3/12. Modeled ca. 1885/Musée Rodin cast in 1966 by Georges Rudier Foundry. Bronze. 18 1/4 x 10 3/8 x 7 5/8 inches. Lent by Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.
This exhibition has been organized and made possible by the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.
