Wadsworth Presenting ‘Rodin: A Magnificent Obsession’

HARTFORD — The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is presenting the first major exhibition in Connecticut of work by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. The exhibition is on view until April 30.

Entitled “Rodin: A Magnificent Obsession, Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation,” the exhibition features 62 bronzes by the master who liberated sculpture from academic tradition.

The career-spanning works range from his first known sculpture, a portrait of his father, 1860, and his early “Mask of the Man with the Broken Nose,” 1863-64, to his late and loosely modeled dancing figures, circa 1910-11.

At the heart of the exhibition, however, are sculptures representing Rodin’s monumental public commissions, including “The Burghers of Calais,” 1884-1895; “Monument to Balzac,” 1891-1898; and, most notably “The Gates of Hell,” regarded by many scholars as the sculptor’s summation of his achievements.

From this ambitious project grew sculptures that would stand alone as independent, world-famous works of art, such as “The Thinker,” 1880, and “The Kiss,” circa 1881-82. The expressive gestures and poses assumed by the fragmented and vigorously modeled figures in Rodin’s work give further evidence of the artist’s originality.

Rodin’s creative methods and the lost-wax process of bronze casting will be explained in an informative display around the sculpture of “Sorrow,” 1889, and in a 53-minute film, Rodin — The Gates of Hell, the latter being screened in the final gallery.

Some of the bronzes in the exhibition were most likely cast during Rodin’s lifetime; others were cast posthumously but according to his explicit permission and instructions. In 1916, one year before his death, Rodin willed his entire estate to the French government, including his artistic property and the right to cast his works posthumously.

The exhibition was organized and made possible by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation. Between 1945 and the early 1990s, B. Gerald Cantor (1916-1996) created the world’s largest private collection of works by Rodin.

Concentrating on quality and significance, he collected nearly 750 sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs and documents. His magnificent obsession was not only with owning Rodin’s work, but also with sharing it with the public. This effort continues through Iris Cantor and the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, which the couple founded in 1978 and which today she chairs.

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is at 600 Main Street. Hours are Wednesday to Friday, 11 am to 5 pm; and Saturday and Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm. It remains open until 8 pm on the first Thursday of each month.

For information, visit www.WadsworthAtheneum.org or call 860-278-2670.