Media Contact: Susan Cipollaro, scipollaro@fairfield.edu, 203-254-4000 x2726
FAIRFIELD, Conn. (September 1, 2019) — The Fairfield University Art Museum (FUAM) is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition, RODIN: TRUTH, FORM, LIFE / Selections from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collections,which will be on view from September 13 through December 21, 2019 in the museum’s Walsh Gallery in the Quick Center for the Arts. A free public opening reception will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 12. This exhibition, only the second major Rodin sculpture exhibition in the state of Connecticut, is the very first to be presented in Fairfield County.
By the early 20th century, Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was widely regarded as the greatest European sculptor since Michelangelo. Rejecting 19th-century academic traditions that dictated what was “proper” in art, Rodin pursued his own deeply held belief that art should be true to nature. Working in clay, wax, plaster, marble, and bronze with vigorous modeling that emphasized his personal response to his subjects, Rodin explored new ways to express the vitality of the human spirit. He was also one of the first sculptors to embrace the fragment as a complete work of art, capable of conveying the same expressive qualities as a fully finished figure. With his commitment to the free exploration of form and emotion, Rodin’s sculptures paved the way for the development of 20thcentury sculpture including that by Matisse and Brancusi.
This special 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 preparatory studies for some of Rodin’s most important public commissions, such as The Burghers of Calaisand The Gates of Hell,as well as portraits ofFrench authors Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac. Three weeks later (October 4) in the Bellarmine Hall Galleries, the museum will open the complementary exhibition Prints from the Age of Rodin, featuring lithographs and etchings by Rodin’s contemporaries, including portraits, theater playbills, and depictions of the urban environment of Paris.
In conjunction with theses exhibitions, the Fairfield University Art Museum has organized a full roster of public programs.
Thursday, September 12, 5 p.m.
Opening Lecture: Drama from Head to Toe: Rodin and the Making of the Burghers of Calais
Jennifer Thompson, PhD, The Gloria and Jack Drosdick Curator of European Painting & Sculpture and Curator of the John G. Johnson Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Part of the Edwin L. Weisl, Jr. Lectureships in Art History, funded by the Robert Lehman Foundation
Quick Center, Wien Experimental Theater
Thursday, September 12, 6-7:30 p.m.
Opening Reception: RODIN: TRUTH, FORM, LIFE
Quick Center, Walsh Gallery and Lobby
Thursday, October 3, 5 p.m.
Gallery Talk: Prints from the Age of Rodin
Michelle DiMarzo, Curator of Education and Curator of the Exhibition
Bellarmine Hall, Bellarmine Hall Galleries and Great Hall
Thursday, October 3, 6-7:30 p.m.
Opening Reception: Prints from the Age of Rodin
Bellarmine Hall, Bellarmine Hall Galleries and Great Hall
Wednesday, October 23, 5 p.m.
Lecture: Rodin & Plaster Casts
Martina Droth, Deputy Director of Research and Curator of Sculpture,
Yale Center for British Art
Bellarmine Hall, Diffley Board Room
Part of the Edwin L. Weisl, Jr. Lectureships in Art History, funded by the Robert Lehman Foundation
Tuesday, November 12, 7-9 p.m.
Drawing Party: Rodin’s Birthday
Quick Center, Walsh Gallery
Thursday, November 14, 6 p.m.
Gallery Talk: Sculpting in Bronze
Marc Mellon, sculptor
Quick Center, Walsh Gallery
Tuesday, December 3, 5-7 p.m.
Gallery Talks: Student Presentations
Bellarmine Hall, Bellarmine Hall Galleries
Thursday, December 12, 11 a.m.
Art in Focus: Rodin, Heroic Bust of Victor Hugo, 1890-97 or 1901-2
Michelle DiMarzo, Curator of Education and Academic Engagement
Quick Center, Walsh Gallery
Saturday, October 5, November 16, December 14, 12 noon
Exhibition Tours: RODIN: TRUTH, FORM, LIFE
Michelle DiMarzo, Curator of Education and Academic Engagement
Walsh Gallery
All events are free of charge and open to the public. Advanceregistration is recommended. For more information on the exhibition and related programming, and to register for events,visit the museum’s website: www.fairfield.edu/museum.
WSHU is the exclusive media sponsor of this exhibition.
Image credit: Auguste Rodin, Head of Shade with Two Hands, modeled ca.1910; bronze; Alexis Rudier Foundry, lent by Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
Posted On: September 3, 2019
Volume: 52 Number: 16
Fairfield University is a modern, Jesuit Catholic university rooted in one of the world’s oldest intellectual and spiritual traditions. More than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students from the U.S. and across the globe are pursuing degrees in the University’s five schools. Fairfield embraces a liberal humanistic approach to education, encouraging critical thinking, cultivating free and open inquiry, and fostering ethical and religious values. The University is located on a stunning 200-acre campus on the scenic Connecticut coast just an hour from New York City.