The Nelson-Atkins Museum Hosts Rodin Sculptures From the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Foundation

Written by Rosalind Somersby Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:38

Kansas City, Missori. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is pleased to present "Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation", on view in the Bloch Lobby from October 1st through June 3rd 2012. Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) was arguably the most celebrated sculptor of the 19th century, and his innovative modeling technique and unconventional subject matter earned him praise as the greatest sculptor since Michelangelo. More than 40 of his powerful bronze sculptures will be exhibited in "Rodin: Sculptures from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation". Avid Rodin collectors, B. Gerald and Iris Cantor amassed more than 750 bronzes, marbles, plasters, prints, drawings and ephemera by and about the artist over the years. Their foundation includes among its aims the promotion, understanding and appreciation of Rodin’s achievements.

“This exhibition is a celebration of the importance of sculpture at the Nelson-Atkins,” said Director & CEO Julián Zugazagoitia. “We have modern Henry Moore and Roxy Paine works in the Sculpture Park, and the Museum has several sculptures from the Nasher Collection, all generously donated by the Hall Family Foundation. And now we recognize the birth of Modernism with these dynamic sculptures by Rodin.”The sculptures are divided into three thematic groups: the Gates of Hell section, which contains figures relating to the massive bronze portal that was Rodin’s most important commission; a group dedicated to sculptures of historical and cultural heroes commissioned as public monuments; and a series of isolated hands that express different states of being. Rodin pioneered many studio practices, creating models in wax, clay and plaster that he would fragment, multiply, recombine, enlarge and reduce. This unorthodox working method allowed the artist to produce a startling range of sculptural effects, examples of which will be on display. B. Gerald Cantor (1916–1996), along with his wife, Iris Cantor, built the largest and most comprehensive private collection of works by Rodin in the world. More than 450 works from the Cantor Collection have been given to more than 90 museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the North Carolina Museum of Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The Cantor Foundation’s philanthropy and commitment to art institutions has deepened the public’s education and understanding of Rodin. There are several special programs in conjunction with this exhibition. In the Nelson-Atkins Museum Café, visitors will tap into Rodin’s expressive sculptures and techniques through a digital “hands-on” touch-screen activity. Visitors can also touch and explore materials demonstrating bronze casting processes.

When the massive Beaux Art Nelson-Atkins’ Building opened in 1933, newspapers nationwide reported visitors “amazed,” “gasping at its innovations and marveling at its luxury.”  Still, times being what they were in the Great Depression, operations were modest: only three telephones serviced the entire building; lights in the galleries were turned off when people left a room; at opening and closing times, a huge bell was rung manually. Though the Museum has grown its collection, its audience (and its telephones), just as in 1933, bringing people together with art is central to all current Museum endeavors. And that goes for the major campus transformation project, the new Bloch Building as its jewel. The Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City is recognized nationally and internationally as one of America’s finest art museums. The Nelson-Atkins serves the community by providing access and insight into its renowned collection of more than 33,500 art objects and is best known for its Asian art, European and American paintings, photography, modern sculpture, and new American Indian and Egyptian galleries. Housing a major art research library and the Ford Learning Center, the Museum is a key educational resource for the region.

The institution-wide transformation of the Nelson-Atkins has included the 165,000-square-foot Bloch Building expansion and renovation of the original 1933 Nelson-Atkins Building. The museum's European painting collection is also highly-prized. It include works by Caravaggio, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Petrus Christus, El Greco, Guercino, Alessandro Magnasco, Giuseppe Bazzani, Corrado Giaquinto, Cavaliere d'Arpino, Gaspare Traversi, Giuliano Bugiardini, Titian, Rembrandt, and Peter Paul Rubens, as well as Impressionists Gustave Caillebotte, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Vincent van Gogh, among others. It also has fine Late Gothic and Early Italian Renaissance paintings by; Jacopo del Casentino (The Presentation of Christ in the Temple), Giovanni di Paolo and Workshop, Bernardo Daddi and Workshop, Lorenzo Monaco, Gherardo Starnina (The Adoration of the Magi), and Lorenzo di Credi. It has German and Austrian Expressionist paintings by Max Beckmann, Karl Hofer (Record Player), Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Oskar Kokoschka (Pyramids of Egypt). The museum is distinguished (and widely celebrated) for its extensive collection of Asian art, especially that of Imperial China. Most of it was purchased for the museum in the early 20th century by Laurence Sickman, then a Harvard fellow in China. The museum has one of the best collections of Chinese antique furniture in the country. In addition to Chinese art, the collection includes pieces from Japan, India, Iran, Indonesia, Korea, and Southeast, and South Asia.

The American painting collection includes the largest collection open to the public of works by Thomas Hart Benton, who lived in Kansas City. Among its collection are masterpieces by George Bellows, George Caleb Bingham, Frederic Church, John Singleton Copley, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, and John Singer Sargent. It also has fine Contemporary Paintings and Creations in the Bloch Building by; Willem de Kooning, Fairfield Porter ("Mirror"), Wayne Thiebaud ("Bikini Girl"), Richard Diebenkorn, Agnes Martin, Bridget Riley, and Alfred Jensen. In 2006, Hallmark Cards chairman Donald J. Hall, Sr., donated to the museum the entire Hallmark Photographic Collection, spanning the history of photography from 1839 to the present day. It is primarily American in focus, and includes works from photographers such as Southworth & Hawes, Carleton Watkins, Timothy O'Sullivan, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Alfred Stieglitz, Dorothea Lange, Homer Page, Harry Callahan, Lee Friedlander, Andy Warhol, Todd Webb, and Cindy Sherman, among others. Outside on the museum's immense lawn, the Kansas City Sculpture Park contains the largest collection of monumental bronzes by Henry Moore in the United States. The park also includes works by Alexander Calder, Auguste Rodin, George Segal and Mark di Suvero, among others. Beyond these, the park (and the museum itself) is well known for Shuttlecocks, a four-part outdoor sculpture of oversize badminton shuttlecocks by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. In addition, the museum also has collections of European and American sculpture, decorative arts and works on paper, Egyptian art, Greek and Roman art, modern and contemporary paintings and sculpture, pre-Columbian art, and the art of Africa, Oceania and the Americas. As well, the museum houses a major collection of English pottery and another of miniature paintings. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.nelson-atkins.org

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