complexity

In Rodin, The Human Experience: Selections from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collections, executive director Richard Waller and deputy director Elizabeth Schlatter wanted to invite visitors to explore the complexity of sculptures from every angle.

“That’s the joy of three-dimensional work,” Waller says. “It’s not one view. You get different views as you walk around.”

The exhibition featured 32 bronze sculptures by French artist Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), examining the artist’s fascination with the human figure and the body in motion. The artworks were part of the Cantor Foundation collection that, at one time, contained as many as 750 of Rodin’s sculptures and pieces of memorabilia.

Rodin, The Human Experience was curated by the Cantor Foundation’s executive director, Judith Sobol. But Sobol intentionally leaves plenty of room for a hosting museum to install the collection in the way that best fits their galleries and audiences.

“I don’t think someone from the outside can do as good a job as someone who knows how the space works,” she says. “Often, they surprise me by putting works next to each other that I would never have done — and they have wonderful insights.”