From Rodin to Bourgeois:... | Exhibitions

From Rodin to Bourgeois: Sculpture in the 20th century

Kunstmuseum Den Haag

The Hague | Netherlands

15 Oct, 2016 - 22 Jan, 2017

Auguste Rodin, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Umberto Boccioni, Constantin Brancusi, Jean Arp, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Moore, Donald Judd, Louise Bourgeois and many more... These are the main players in this major retrospective of modern sculpture. From Rodin to Bourgeois: Sculpture in the 20th century pinpoints the key developments in modern European and American sculpture. From Rodin鈥檚 Balzac right through to Sandback鈥檚 yarn sculptures and Bourgeois鈥檚 famous spiders: the exhibition is a journey through the high points in the history of sculpture in the West. According to the clich茅, The Netherlands is a country of painting, not of sculpture. The Gemeentemuseum Den Haag is keen to prove that the opposite is the case. This autumn鈥檚 wide-ranging exhibition will extend well beyond the confines of the museum, focusing public attention on the art of sculpture and its many virtuoso practitioners in the Western world.

Roughly speaking, the history of sculpture can be divided into three main periods: classical antiquity; the Renaissance, when Michelangelo took the art to new heights; and the 20th century, when artists freed sculpture from spatial constraints, hanging it from the ceiling, laying it on the ground, and liberating it from visible reality. Based on six themes, From Rodin to Bourgeois: Sculpture in the 20thcentury will provide a largely chronological overview of developments in this final key period in the history of sculpture. The exhibition uses masterpieces of international art history to demonstrate these key developments in modern sculpture. Many of the works have never previously been exhibited in the Netherlands.