Embedded Files
SCULPTURE
19th Century- Away from Neoclassical - Toward Primative
119. The Burghers of Calais
ARTIST: Auguste Rodin
DATE: 1884-1885 C.E.
LOCATION: PUBLIC
MATERIALS: Bronze
VOCAB: Hundred Years War, Franco-Prussian War
THEME: Challenging Tradition
The Thinker (1902) The Kiss (1889) Monument to Balzac (1897) The Gates of Hell (1917)
CLEVELAND THINKER
All told there are, twenty-five 72" enlarged versions of Auguste Rodin's The Thinker. Of these, fewer than ten were cast and patinated during his lifetime. One of the last Rodin-supervised casts can be found in Cleveland, Ohio, where it sits directly in front of the Cleveland Museum of Art. This cast was acquired in 1916, and given to the Cleveland Museum of Art early in 1917.
The Thinker was originally entitled Le Poète (The Poet) by Rodin
At approximately 1:00 am on March 24, 1970, a bomb irreparably damaged the Cleveland museum's version of The Thinker. The bomb itself had been placed on a pedestal that supported the enlargement and had the power of about three sticks of dynamite.
No one was injured in the subsequent blast, but the statue's base and lower legs were destroyed. The remaining sections of the cast were blown backward to form a 'plume' at the base, and the entire statue was knocked to the ground. It was reported that this attack was undertaken by a radical political group, perhaps as a commentary on the continuing military action in Vietnam or the elitism of the American government.
Regardless, no one was ever arrested or charged with the destruction. However, the incident highlighted several conservation issues related directly to artistic intent. Since the piece was so dramatically damaged, the museum was unsure how to proceed. One idea was to create an entirely new cast to replace the damaged work. Another idea was to restore the sculpture by recasting elements of Rodin's original. Finally, however, it was decided that the statue should not be repaired, but placed outside the museum in its damaged condition.
PHILADELPHIA THINKER
Conceived 1880 (enlarged 1902-4); cast 1919. Auguste Rodin. Cast by the founder Alexis Rudier, Paris, 1874 - 1952. Bronze 79 x 51 1/4 x 55 1/4 inches (200.7 x 130.2 x 140.3 cm). Bequest of Jules E. Mastbaum, 1929.
Rodin originally conceived a smaller version of this sculpture to sit atop his monumental bronze portal entitled The Gates of Hell (1880-1917) - which are also on view at the museum. The figure was intended to represent Italian poet Dante Alighieri pondering The Divine Comedy, his epic story of Paradise and Inferno. However, in 1889 Rodin exhibited the sculpture independently of The Gates, giving it the title The Thinker, and in 1902 he embarked on this larger version.
The Kiss originally represented Paolo and Francesca, two characters borrowed, once again, from Dante’s Divine Comedy: slain by Francesca’s husband who surprised them as they exchanged their first kiss, the two lovers were condemned to wander eternally through Hell. This group, designed in the early stages of the elaboration of The Gates, was given a prominent position on the lower left door, opposite Ugolino, until 1886, when Rodin decided that this depiction of happiness and sensuality was incongruous with the theme of his vast project.
He therefore transformed the group into an independent work and exhibited it in 1887. The fluid, smooth modelling, the very dynamic composition and the charming theme made this group an instant success.
129. The Kiss
ARTIST: Constantin Brancusi
DATE: 1907-1908 C.E.
LOCATION: PUBLIC
MATERIALS: Limestone
VOCAB: Monolithic, Reductive, avant-garde
THEME: Challenging Tradition
RETAIN IMMATERIALITY
MORE THANK ONE THING
Primitive as truth - ARCHAIC
avant-garde - TRUTH in NATURE
Constantin Brancusi's series of works titled The Kiss constitutes one of the most celebrated depictions of love in the history of art. This version is the fourth and perhaps most sophisticated of the several sculptures Brancusi created around the theme. Utilizing a limestone block, the artist employed the method of direct carving to produce the incised contours that delineate the male and female forms. The juxtaposition of smooth and rough surfaces paired with the dramatic simplification of the human figures, which are shown from the waist up, may suggest Brancusi's awareness of "primitive" African sculpture and perhaps also of the Cubist works of his contemporaries. The artist carved this sculpture specifically for John Quinn, the New York lawyer and art collector who had been interested in obtaining an earlier version of The Kiss (1907-8) that was no longer in the sculptor's possession. When Quinn later inquired about the proper way to display his new acquisition, Brancusi responded that the work should be placed "just as it is, on something separate; for any kind of arrangement will have the look of an amputation."1 An archival photograph in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art reveals that Louise and Walter Arensberg, who later acquired the piece, installed The Kiss atop the artist's Bench (1914-16) beside six stone sculptures from their collection of Pre-Columbian art. Melissa Kerr, from Masterpieces from the Philadelphia Museum of Art: Impressionism and Modern Art (2007), p. 164.
ARTIST: Claude Monet
DATE: 1877 C.E.
LOCATION:
MATERIALS: Oil on Canvas
VOCAB: plain-air
THEME:
ARTIST: Claude Monet
DATE: 1877 C.E.
LOCATION:
MATERIALS: Oil on Canvas
VOCAB: plain-air
THEME:
126. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon_, Pablo Picasso (video, images, additional resources
129. The Kiss, Constantin Brancusi (video, images, additional resources)
130. The Portuguese, Georges Braque (essay, images, additional resources)
131. The Goldfish, Henri Matisse (essay, image, additional resources)
132. Improvisation 28 (second version), Vasily Kandinsky (video, photo, additional resources
133. Self-Portrait as a Soldier, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (essay, image, additional resources
134. Memorial Sheet of Karl Liebknecht, Käthe Kollwitz (essay, image, additional resources)
135. Villa Savoye, Le Corbusier (essay, images, additional resources)
136. Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow, Piet Mondrian (essay, image, additional resources)
137. Illustration from The Results of the First Five-Year Plan, VarvaraStepanova (essay, image, additional resources)
138. Object (Le Déjeuner en fourrure), Meret Oppenheim (essay, quiz, image, additional resources 139. Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright (essay, plans and elevations, images, additionalresources)
140. The Two Fridas, Frida Kahlo (essay, image, additional resources)
141. The Migration of the Negro, Panel no. 49, Jacob Lawrence (video-short version, video-long version, photo, additional resources)
142. The Jungle, Wilfredo Lam (essay, image, additional resources)
143. Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Central Park, Diego Rivera (essay, image, additional resources)
144. Fountain, Marcel Duchamp (video, images, additional resources)
145. Woman I, Willem de Kooning (video, images, additional resources)
146. Seagram Building, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson (video,images, additional resources)
147. Marilyn Diptych, Andy Warhol (essay, image, additional resources)
148. Narcissus garden, Yayoi Kusama (essay, image, additional resources)
149. The Bay, Helen Frankenthaler (essay, quiz, image, additional resources)
150. Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks, Claes Oldenburg (essay, photo, additional resoures)
151. Spiral Jetty, Robert Smithson (video, images, additional resources)
152. House in New Castle County, Robert Ventura, John Rausch and Denise Scott Brown (essay, photos, additional resources)
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