En Passant: Impressionism in Sculpture
One and a half centuries after its emergence, Impressionism continues to fascinate the world. Especially painting, with its loose, sketchy brush flow, the rich and bright palette of colours, and everyday subjects, conveys a feeling of a new awakening and modernity. To this day, however, the diversity of Impressionism in the field of sculpture remains less explored and relatively unknown to a broad public. It is nevertheless historically proven that the discussion about Impressionism in sculpture began already with the presentation of Edgar Degas鈥 work Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer (1878/81) at the sixth Impressionist exhibition in Paris in 1881.
From 19 March to 28 June 2020, the St盲del Museum is devoting a major exhibition to the question of what it means in concrete terms to translate the qualities of Impressionist painting such as light, colour, mood, movement 鈥 even transience 鈥 into solid materials. The presentation focuses on five artists: Edgar Degas (1834鈥1917), Auguste Rodin (1840鈥1917), Medardo Rosso (1858鈥1928), Paolo Troubetzkoy (1866鈥1936) and Rembrandt Bugatti (1884鈥1916). With their works, they are representative for the fundamental question of the existence of an Impressionist style of sculpture and, at the same time, serve as prototypes for a cross-media artistic work in painting and sculpture.
The exhibition brings together outstanding sculptures by the five artists and places them in dialogue with Impressionist paintings, pastels, drawings, prints and photographs from public and private collections 鈥 including impressive works from the collection of the St盲del Museum. Works by leading artists such as Pierre Bonnard, Antoine Bourdelle, Mary Cassatt, Camille Claudel, Max Liebermann, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Giovanni Segantini and John Singer Sargent will be on view. With more than 160 works, the exhibition provides a comprehensive overview of the possibilities and challenges of Impressionism in sculpture.
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One and a half centuries after its emergence, Impressionism continues to fascinate the world. Especially painting, with its loose, sketchy brush flow, the rich and bright palette of colours, and everyday subjects, conveys a feeling of a new awakening and modernity. To this day, however, the diversity of Impressionism in the field of sculpture remains less explored and relatively unknown to a broad public. It is nevertheless historically proven that the discussion about Impressionism in sculpture began already with the presentation of Edgar Degas鈥 work Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer (1878/81) at the sixth Impressionist exhibition in Paris in 1881.
From 19 March to 28 June 2020, the St盲del Museum is devoting a major exhibition to the question of what it means in concrete terms to translate the qualities of Impressionist painting such as light, colour, mood, movement 鈥 even transience 鈥 into solid materials. The presentation focuses on five artists: Edgar Degas (1834鈥1917), Auguste Rodin (1840鈥1917), Medardo Rosso (1858鈥1928), Paolo Troubetzkoy (1866鈥1936) and Rembrandt Bugatti (1884鈥1916). With their works, they are representative for the fundamental question of the existence of an Impressionist style of sculpture and, at the same time, serve as prototypes for a cross-media artistic work in painting and sculpture.
The exhibition brings together outstanding sculptures by the five artists and places them in dialogue with Impressionist paintings, pastels, drawings, prints and photographs from public and private collections 鈥 including impressive works from the collection of the St盲del Museum. Works by leading artists such as Pierre Bonnard, Antoine Bourdelle, Mary Cassatt, Camille Claudel, Max Liebermann, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Giovanni Segantini and John Singer Sargent will be on view. With more than 160 works, the exhibition provides a comprehensive overview of the possibilities and challenges of Impressionism in sculpture.
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Even today, a century and a half after its emergence, impressionism still fascinates people worldwide. Especially the paintings, with their loose, sketchy brushwork, bright palette and depictions of everyday scenes, are familiar to us all.
鈥楪ood God! We are going to see Impressionist sculptors!鈥 exclaimed the critic Jules Claretie after seeing Degas鈥檚 Little Dancer of Fourteen Years (c. 1880) at the Impressionists鈥 sixth Salon des Ind茅pendants in 1881.