Clark Art Institute Pays Tribute to Rodin's American Legacy with New Exhibition

Rodin in the United States: Confronting the Modern tells the story of the collectors, art historians, critics, gallerists, and philanthropists — many of them women — who helped to introduce Rodin's work to public and private collections in the United States. While there has been much consideration of Rodin's legacy in France and throughout Europe, less attention has been paid to his reception in America.  

This exhibition is one of the largest presentations of Rodin's work in more than forty years and includes approximately 50 sculptures and twenty-five drawings, presenting both the artist's familiar masterpieces and lesser-known works of the highest quality. It explores shifting perceptions of the sculptor, starting with the first acquisition of a work by Rodin at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1893 and Rodin's controversial launch at Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition in the same year.

The exhibition, curated by independent scholar Antoinette LeNormand-Romain, demonstrates Rodin's expertise across materials and media, with prominent examples of plaster, bronze, marble, graphite, and watercolor.