Mirror of the Soul is an exhibition of twenty-seven bronze sculptures generously lent by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.
At the peak of his career Auguste Rodin was regarded as the greatest sculptor since Michelangelo. Leaving behind nineteenth-century academic traditions, Rodin created his own form of artistic expression. He focused on conveying the vitality of the human spirit by using a vigorous modeling technique that emphasized his personal response to the subject. At the same time, his sculpture rarely told stories and thus the viewer was encouraged to rely on his or her own personal response. Today we see his pioneering figurative sculpture as a crucial link between traditional and modern art.
The figurative works in this exhibition demonstrate a broad range of gestural and emotional dynamics. Venus (modeled 1888) is a female figure whose arms gracefully extend upward while poised in a tiptoe stance. With the fluid focus of a ballerina her smooth slender presence radiates beauty and virtue. Torso of the Walking Man (modeled 1878-79) emphasizes Rodin’s attention to muscular detail. Athletically bold, this sculpture strides forward with confidence and strength.
The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation promotes and recognizes excellence in the arts and enhances cultural life internationally through its support for art exhibitions and scholarship, and its endowment of galleries and sculpture gardens at major museums. During the last four decades it has loaned individual works and entire exhibitions to museums worldwide, in more than 160 cities in Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and the United States. Nearly ten million people have seen these shows.
